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STORIES OF OLD 



OR 



Uiblc Narrattt)C0 

SUITED TO THE CAPACITY OF YOUNG CHILDREN 



BY CAROLINE HADLEY 

•» i) 



ILLTJSl. ...TED BY &IS ENGRAVINGS 



Qcctmu Series— New ' SestrtmciU 

NEW YORK 
SHELDON & COMPANY 

335 BROADWAY 
1863 






.05 



• • m* 



* . « 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

1. The Sweetest of all Stories, 5 

2. The Story of the Shepherds, 10 

3. The Story of the Wise Men and the Star, 13 

4. The Story of Herod killing the Children , 18 

5. The Story of the Forerunner, 23 

6. The Story of Christ's Temptation, 26 

7. The Story of the calling of the Disciples, 30 

8. The Story of Nicodemus, 35 

9. The Story of the Living Water, 40 

10. The Story of Jesus healing the Nobleman's Son, .... 45 

11. The Story of Jesus stilling the Tempest, 49 

12. The Story of Jesus curing those who were possessed 

witfi Devils, 53 

13. The Story of Jesus and Jairus' Daughter, 56 

14. The Story of JesuS raising the Widow's Son 61 

15. The Story of Jesus at the house of Simon 64 

16. The Story of the Prodigal Son 69 

IT. The Story of the Lost sheep and the Lost Money. ... 75 

18. The Story of the Lord's Prayer, 79 

19. The Story of the Sermon on the Mount, 84 

20. The Story of Jesus healing the Man who had the 

Palsy, 89 

21. The Story of some Sabbath-day Cures 93 

22. The Story of Jesus feeding Five Thousand Men, 97 

23. The Story of Christ's Transfiguration, 104 

24. The Story of the Disciples' Strife, " who should be 

greatest ?" 107 

25. The Story of the Man who was born blind 109 

26. The Story of the Good shepherd 116 

27. Tho Story of Jesus and the Children 119 



IV CONTENTS. 



Page 

28. The Story of the Rich Ruler , 123 

29. The Story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, 127 

30. The Story of what Jesus did after the raising of 

Lazarus, 135 

31. The Story of Mary of Bethany annointing Jesus, .... 142 

32. The Story of Christ's Triumphant Entry into Jeru- . 

salem, 145 

33. The Story of the Plots against Jesus, 149 

34. The Story of Christ's Last Supper, Part L, 154 

35. The Story of Christ's Last Supper, Part II., 161 

36. The Story of Christ's Last Supper, Part III., 165 

37. The Story of Christ's Agony in Gethsemane, 169 

38. The Story of Christ's betrayal by Judas, 173 

39. The Story of Peter's Denial, 176 

40. The Story of Christ's Trial before the Jewish Council, 179 

41. The Story of Christ's Trial before Pilate, Part 1., 184 

42. The Story of Christ's Trial before Pilate, Part II.,. ... 189 

43. The Story of the Death of Judas, 196 

44. The Story of Christ's Crucifixion, Part I., 198 

45. The Story of Christ's Crucifixion, Part II., 202 

46. The Story of Christ's Burial, 206 

47. The Story of Christ's Resurrection, 212 

48. The Story of the Walk to Emmaus, 219 

49. The Story of Christ's Visits to His Disciples, 225 

50. The Story of Christ's Ascension, 232 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. / 

1. Christ's Entry into Jerusalem (Frontispiece.) 

2. Emblematical Title-page, 

3. Jesus stilling the Tempest, To face page 49 

4. The Return of the Prodigal Son, " " 69 

5. Christ healing the Sick of the Palsy, . . " " 89 

6. The Good Shepherd, " "■ 116 

1. Jesus and Little Children " " 119 



STORIES OF OLD. 

(NEW TESTAMENT.) 



l. Sbe $mttt#t af aW Movw$. 

Luke i., 26-38 ; ii., 1-7. 

MORE than eighteen hundred years 
ago there lived in the quiet town of 
Nazareth a pious Jewish maiden : her 
name was Mary. She was poor, and she 
was going to be married to a poor man 
named Joseph, who was a carpenter by 
trade. Though living thus in humble life, 
they were of the Royal Family of Judah, 
and were the descendants of King David. 

The Jews were very particular to keep 
exact lists of the names of their famlies — 
genealogies they called them — and these 
lists went back for many hundred years. 

Though Joseph and Mary belonged to 
the Royal Family of David, yet they lived 
in Nazareth of Galilee, far away from King 
David's city, Bethlehem. 



6 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

A great Roman Emperor called Augus- 
tus Caesar had conquered Palestine by Ms 
soldiers, and had put a king of his own 
choosing on the throne of Judah. His 
name was Herod the Great — great indeed 
in nothing good — great only in wickedness. 
This Herod was king, under Augustus, and 
he was obliged to rule as the Emperor 
pleased. 

We will now go back to Nazareth, and 
see Mary, who is sitting alone in her own 
house. A glorious visitor stands before 
her, and says, " Peace be with you, Mary. 
Be glad, for the Lord is with you, and has 
blessed you more than any other woman." 

Mary saw that her bright visitor was an 
angel of God, and she felt troubled at his 
saying. What did it mean ? why was he 
sent to her ? she asked herself. 

Then the angel told her " not to fear;" 
for he came to tell her that God would 
send her a baby — a wonderful baby. It 
would be no other than Jesus, the long 
promised Saviour of the world. 

Oh, how long the world had waited for 
this Seed of the woman, which was to un- 
do the mischief caused by Satan, according 



THE SWEETEST OF ALL STORIES. 7 

to the promise made thousands of years 
ago to Adam and Eve. And how often 
from that time had the prophets foretold 
His coming, " how a maiden should have a 
son who would be Christ the Lord!" 

Mary had heard all these wonderful and 
true sayings of God, and she was glad to 
find that, of all the women of Israel, she 
was the one chosen to be the mother of 
this child. 

But the old prophets said that this child 
was to be born at Bethlehem ; whereas, Ma- 
ry lived at Nazareth. This old saying, how- 
ever, came exactly true, in a strange way. 

The Emperor Augustus, who was, as I 
told you, the master of the land of Pales- 
tine, said that he wanted a list of the names 
of every man and woman, their ages, their 
rank, and their trades, throughout the land. 
The list was called a census. 

Herod was to make out the list ; and he 
said, to prevent mistakes, he must take the 
people according to the tribe to which they 
belonged. Every one was, therefore, oblig- 
ed to go to the city to which his tribe or 
family belonged, however troublesome or 
however far it might be for some of them. 



8 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

They could not help it — the will of 
Augustus must be obeyed. 

Yes, into every city, into every town, 
into every village, there came a messenger 
to say, u Every one must go to his right 
place, to have his name put down in the 
list for the Emperor." 

Now, as I told you before, Joseph and 
Mary belonged to the family of David, of 
the tribe of Judah ; so they had to go to 
Bethlehem, for that was David's city, to 
have their names written down. 

It was about sixty miles from Nazareth 
to Bethlehem, a very long journey in those 
days. 

How tired they are, and how glad to see 
the white walls of the little city through 
the olive-trees and vines which grew 
around it ! 

It is evening, and the city is full ; for 
others, like them, have come from a dis- 
tance to be registered. They go to the 
inn, but there is no place for them — where 
shall they sleep for the night ? 

The master of the inn pities them, for 
Mary looks so tired, and he says, " They 
may rest in the stable for the night." 



THE SWEETEST OF ALL STORIES. 9 

How glad Joseph and Mary are even of 
that lowly place ! There is straw for 
them to lie upon, and a roof over their 
heads ; but that is all. The oxen and asses 
are around them, and many are going and 
coming ; but they are thankful after their 
long and weary journey, to find any shel- 
ter in Bethlehem. 

That night the old saying of Micah the 
prophet* came true ; for there, at Bethle- 
hem, did God send to Mary the promised 
baby. Yes, that night was the most won- 
derful and the most joyous in the world's 
history ; for then was born the Son of God. 

Mary took her baby, and dressed him 
in some long clothes, called swaddling 
clothes, and laid Him in a manger. She 
had no soft cradle near ; she dared not lay 
Him on the ground, lest the beasts should 
tread on Him, so she put Him into one of 
the troughs from which the cattle ate theii 
food. 

" Give heed, my heart, lift up thine eyes ! 
Who is it in yon manger lies ? 
Who is this child, so young and fair ? 
The blessed Christ-child lieth there." ' 

* Micah, v., 2. 



10 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child ! 
Make Thee a bed, soft, undeflled, 
Within, my heart, and let it be 
A quiet chamber kept for Thee." 



2. WUt Mmj of iJxt $bt$M&#. 

Luke it, 8-20. 

ON the night that Jesus was born in 
Bethlehem, some shepherds were 
watching their flocks, in the fields around 
the city. 

More than a thousand years' before had 
David, when a lad, kept his father's sheep 
in the very same place. Now, these shep- 
herds were guarding their flocks from the 
wolves and foxes, which still lived in the 
hills and woods of Palestine. 

Most likely these shepherds were good 
men, who were waiting for the coming of 
the Saviour, like many other pious men of 
Israel. According to the writings of their 
prophets, they knew that the time of His 
birth must be near at hand. But now the 



THE SHEPHERDS. 11 

time has come, only as yet they knew it 
not. 

All at once, they see a strange bright 
light. It is night, so it is not the sun ; nor 
is it the moon — nor the stars. Brighter, 
than the brightest day is this light from 
Heaven. 

The glory of the Lord shines round 
about them. No wonder they are afraid. 

Then an angel spoke to them, and said 
in kindest tones, "Fear not: for behold, I 
bring you good tidings of great joy, which 
shall be to all people." " For unto you is 
born in the city of David, a Saviour, who 
is Christ the Lord. He is a new-born 
baby, lying in a manger at the inn of Beth- 
lehem. Go, and you will find Him." 

Now they saw in the sky a great num- 
ber of angels, who filled the air with their 
praises ; and the shepherds heard the words 
of the angels' cradle-song. It was this : 

" G-lory to G-od in the highest, 
On earth peace, and good- will to men. " 

Having sung this song, the angels went 
back to Heaven: the light faded away, 
and all was dark as before. 



12 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

The shepherds now began talking to- 
gether about these strange sights and 
sounds. "Let us go," said they, "the 
nearest way to Bethlehem, and see this 
thing which has come to pass." 

They did not say, " Let us wait till morn- 
ing because of our flocks;" no, the event 
was so great they could not wait till then 
to see its truth. 

At once, with haste, they went to the 
inn of Bethlehem, into the court-yard 
around which were the stables. There, 
even as the angels had said, and as they 
expected to find, was the babe lying in a 
manger, with Mary and Joseph by His side. 

" This baby is the Saviour of the world, 
the long-promised Messiah," said they to 
Mary ; "we knew we should find Him 
here, for God has sent his angels to-night 
to tell us of His birth. The whole air was 
filled with music from Heaven, and we 
heard the angels sing : 

" G-lory to G-od in the highest, 
On earth peace, and good- will to men." 

The mother, Mary, like all other moth- 
ers, kept these sayings about her baby like 



THE WISE MEN AND THE STAR. 13 

treasures in her heart. Often and often, 
in after years, did she think over all the 
strange things that had happened at the 
birth of this child. 

The shepherds could not stop any long- 
er in Bethlehem, for their flocks were 
alone ; but they told many in the city what 
they had heard and seen. Every one that 
heard the good news wondered at the 
things which were told them by the shep- 
herds. Many heard; but all did not be- 
lieve. As it was then, so it is now. 

To you is the Saviour sent ; do you know 
it — and do you love Him ? 



3. Sft* Mmj of \\u Ww Wm M*tf 
i\u &tax. 

Matt, ii., 1-12. 

I TOLD you that many pious men in Is- 
rael were at this time looking for the 
birth of a great Prince, and this expecta- 
tion was shared in by many people in oth- 
er parts of the world. 

2 



14 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

In one of the countries east of Palestine, 
probably Arabia, there lived some Wise 
Men — magi, sages, or, perhaps, priests. 
As they lived near the borders of the old 
kingdom of Chaldea, no doubt they had 
heard of the prophecy of Daniel, in which 
he spoke of the coming, about this time, 
of " Messiah the Prince, to whom should be 
given glory and kingdom."* 

Or they had most likely heard from the 
children of Moab, whose country was also 
near theirs, of the saying of Balaam, u I 
shall see Him, but not now : I shall behold 
Him, but not nigh. There shall come a 
star out Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out 
of Israel. Out of Jacob shall come He 
that hath dominion, "f 

It was fourteen hundred years since these 
words were spoken, and now that " Star" 
has arisen. 

These Eastern sages were one night look- 
ing at the sky, studying, as was their way, 
the movements of the stars. 

As they gazed into the quiet depths of 
the midnight sky, they saw a new bright 
star. " Is this the star of Jacob's Ruler ?" 

* Dan. vii., 14. Num. xxiv., 11-19. 



THE WISE MEN AND THE STAR. 15 

said they ; " surely it is the sign of that 
Great King's coming!" With feelings of 
awe and wonder they continued to gaze 
on. At last they said, " We will go to Je- 
rusalem, where the God of Israel has His 
Temple ; and perhaps there we shall hear 
that He has come. We will go and wor- 
ship Him, and will take some gifts for His 
acceptance;" for no one in the East ever 
thinks of going to see a great person with- 
out taking a present with him. 

When they reached Jerusalem, they 
earnestly asked the people whom they met, 
"Where is He that is born King of the 
Jews ? for we have seen His star in the 
East, and are come to worship Him!" 

King Herod and the people of Jerusa- 
lem had not yet heard of His birth, and 
these inquiries of the Wise Men troubled 
them. 

Herod was afraid. "The King of the 
Jews, did the Wise men say? Perhaps 
He will one day take away my crown, and 
Himself sit upon the ancient throne of 
David." Thus thought this wicked King. 

Herod became more and more frighten- 
ed, for he must have heard something of 

2* 



16 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

the old prophecies, which people were ex- 
pecting to be fulfilled. His own con- 
science must have troubled him, too, as 
the thought of many of his crimes arose in 
his mind. But he need not have feared 
this " King of the Jews," for His kingdom 
was to be one over the hearts of men : it 
was "not of this world." 

Then Herod said, " Call all the men to- 
gether who were wise in the Hebrew 
Scriptures." 

Then the chief priests, and the scribes, 
who were the writers of the law, met to- 
gether at Herod's command. 

" Tell me where your writings say that 
Christ should be born," demanded he. 

They quickly answered, u In Bethlehem of 
Judea," as they unrolled the parchment on 
which Micah's ancient prophecy was written. 

They showed him the words most plain- 
ly written, u But thou, Bethlehem-Ephra- 
tah, though thou be little among the thou- 
sands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He 
come forth unto me, that is to be Ruler in 
Israel."* 

Mich, v., 2. 



THE WISE MEN AND THE STAR. 17 

"It is enough!" said Herod; and lie 
sent for the Wise Men. 

He had asked them when they had first 
seen the star, for he felt sure that it was 
the star of the King of Israel. "Go," 
said he, " to Bethlehem, for it is there, and 
not at Jerusalem, that the prophets say this 
child is to be born. When you have found 
Him, as I feel sure you will, come back and 
tell me, that I also may go and worship Him." 

Dark, wicked, cruel thoughts were even 
now coming into Herod's mind ; he never 
meant to go to worship this Infant King. 

These Eastern sages now turned from Je- 
rusalem to go to Bethlehem, which was a 
few miles off. They felt quite sure, now, 
that they were walking in the right road, 
for lo ! they saw again the beautiful star 
that they had seen in their own land. Ex- 
ceeding great was their joy ; and the star s 
never left them again till they came to the 
place where the young child was. 

They went to the house in which Joseph 
and Mary now lived, and there they saw 
the baby in the arms of His mother. 

Did they turn away and say, " This poor 
infant cannot be a King ; if He were, He 



18 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

would have come to a kingly dwelling, in 
the midst of the well-born and the noble ?" 

No : had not the star guided them ? 
With faith and reverence these Wise Men 
at once fell down and worshipped Him; 
and when they had opened their treasures, 
they presented unto Him gifts ; gold, and 
frankincense, and myrrh. 

That night God told them in a dream 
not to return to Jerusalem to tell Herod 
what they had seen, but to go straight 
home some other way. 

"Bring thou thy gifts to Jesus Christ, 
Not gold nor incense sweet ; 
But golden love and precious faith, 
As offerings most meet." 



4. lb* $tmj of fjwtffl pnittfl tit* 

Matt, ii., 13-23. 

HEROD was waiting with great impa- 
tience for the return of the Wise 
Men to Jerusalem. He was continually 
asking his servants if they had heard or 



HEROD KILLING THE CHILDREN. 19 

seen anything of them. At last, after wait- 
ing some time, he said, " They must have 
gone home again by now ; they have found 
the Infant King, and they would not come 
to tell me about Him. But I will have my 
revenge." In great anger he sent for some 
Roman soldiers, and said, " Make haste, 
and go to Bethlehem. A young King has 
lately been born there, and I will have 
Him killed at once. I do not know in 
which house this baby is ; but to make 
sure of his death, you shall go into every 
house in the place, and kill every child 
under two years old." 

Do you think that these soldiers said, 
" Surely the King Herod will alter his mind 
when his passion is gone." No; they knew 
too well that he was old in cruelty, and 
that it was of no use for them to refuse to 
obey his orders. 

I will tell you one thing that Herod did 
to show you how very merciless he was. 
He knew that he had been so cruel to the 
Jews, that they would rejoice to hear of his 
death. He said he would make them sor- 
ry when he died. So he gave a secret order 
that the best people of the Jewish nation 



20 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

should be put to death as soon as lie was 
dead himself. "Then," he said, u all the 
Jewish nation will be weeping." I am glad 
to say, though, that the people whom he 
told to do this dreadful deed, did not obey 
him after he was dead. 

Of course, if he had so hard a heart he 
would not care about killing a few babies 
to please his wicked passion. 

His soldiers enter Bethlehem. " Why 
are these men come here?" the people 
ask. 

They had not long to wait for an answer. 
The soldiers went into one house after 
another, and snatched every baby from its 
mother's breast, and threw it down again 
a lifeless corpse. Every little child that 
was just able to walk about they caught 
up in their arms, and pierced it with their 
swords. In vain the mothers ran with their 
babies to the tops of their houses ; in vain 
the fathers carried their little ones to the 
vineyards round ; every garden was search- 
ed, every door was opened, and every child 
under two years old was killed. And from 
the city of Bethlehem there arose an ex- 
ceeding bitter cry. Oh ! what a cry it must 






HEROD KILLING THE CHILDREN. 21 

have been ! The cry of one mother mourn- 
ing for her dead babe goes to the very- 
heart ; but here are a very great many moth- 
ers wailing over children who have met 
with a sudden and bloody death. 

But I think I hear you ask, "Did they 
find the baby Jesus, and kill Him ?" No ; 
God would not let them do that. He knew 
what the wicked king would do, so He took 
care that Jesus should be in a safe place far 
away. 

The night after the Wise Men had left, 
God sent an angel to Joseph, and said to 
him, "Rise from your bed, and get ready 
for a journey to Egypt. Take Mary and 
the baby away directly, for Herod will seek 
for the Infant to kill Him. I will tell you 
when it will be time for you to return 
home." 

Joseph did not wait a moment. In the 
stillness of the night they went through the 
city gate, and were soon far away in the 
desert. 

Joseph and Mary and the baby did not 
long live in Egypt, for Herod died very 
soon afterwards. Then God sent an angel 
to Joseph, as he had promised him, to tell 



22 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

him that now he might go back again, 
" because they were dead who sought the 
young child's life." 

But Joseph felt afraid to go and live at 
Bethlehem again, so he went back to his old 
home at Nazareth, in Galilee. 

In the quiet town of Nazareth Jesus spent 
his childhood and youth, subject to his pa- 
rents, and He increased in wisdom and stat- 
ure, and in favour with God and man. 

He is a pettern for all children in His 
sinless childhood. He never grieved His 
parents by one wrong look, or word, or 
deed. Will you not say : 

" I long to be like Jesus — 
Meek, loving, lowly, mild; 
I long to be be like Jesus, 
The Father's Holy Child." 



\ 



5. mu Mm ** tot immtmtx. 

Matt. Hi., 1-12. Mark i., 1-8. Luke iii., 1-18. 
John i. ; 6-34. 

IP you had been living in the land of 
Palestine, thirty years after the birth 
of Christ, you would have heard of a man 
called John the Baptist. 

He lived mostly among the wild places 
and desert parts of Judea, and by the river 
side of Jordan. 

He wore the coarsest clothing, and lived 
on the plainest food. Yet he was a greater 
prophet than all those who had come before 
him. He was " a man sent from God" to 
prepare the Jews for the teaching of Jesus. 

In Eastern countries, when a great person 
is going a journey, some one is sent before 
him — a forerunner — to see that the way is 
clear for him and his servants. The roads 
must be be watered to lay the dust, the 
rough places must be made smooth, and 
all hindrances taken out of the way. Up 
to this time Jesus had been living quietly 



24 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

and unknown, with his parents at Nazareth. 
Now the time had come for Him to begin 
to teach, and to preach to the people. 

Sometime, however, before Jesus began 
His work, John told the Jews to get ready 
for the teaching of Jesus. "Some one is 
coming who is greater than I am. He al- 
ready stands among you, though you know 
Him not." u Put away," he cried, " all 
that will hinder His coming to you. He is 
the Holy One of Israel, turn away from your 
sins. Repent! the kingdom of God is 
come unto you." 

These sayings of John roused the whole 
Jewish people; many came to him, and 
confessed their sins. 

King Herod (not the king Herod who 
killed the children, but another king) heard 
of John's fame, and listened to his teachings 
gladly. John told him of his sins, though 
he was a king, and some sins he did give 
up, but only those he pleased ; like many 
people now, who give up some sins which 
they do not much care for, and keep those 
which they like best. Some child may say, 
" I never tell a lie, because God would be 
angry if I did ;" but do you never go into 



THE FORERUNNER. 25 

a passion, and say sharp and unkind words ? 
All sin must be given up, or else we shall 
love sin better than we do God ; for God 
cannot dwell in the heart where sin is loved. 

The Pharisees and Sadducees, too, came 
to John. They were mostly proud men, 
who thought a great deal of themselves. 

John was surprised to see them come, 
and said, " Who has told you to flee from 
the • wrath to come? You think you are 
safe because you are the children of faithful 
Abraham ; but I tell you that each one of 
you must give up his sins, his pride, and 
all unrighteousness, or he can have on part 
in Messiah's kingdom ; that kingdom ir close 
at hand. Repent ! for He will burn the 
chaff with unquenchable fire." 

These plain words of John made the 
Pharisees angry — they thought themselves 
so much better than others, that they had 
no need to repent. But no one can enter 
the kingdom of Jesus, unless he turns away 
from his sins. 

I cannot tell you of all the people who 
came to John; but some there were who 
felt very sorry for their sins, and to them 
he spoke words of love and peace. He told 



26 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

them to look to Jesus as " the Lamb of God 
who taketh away the sin of the world." 



6. %\xt fflmij of (&M0» Wtmyixtitm. 

Matt. iv. 3 1-11. Mark i.., 12, 13. Luke iv., 1-13. 

BEFORE Jesus began to teach, He went 
into a place all alone. He stayed in 
the wilderness for forty days. The quiet of 
the desert was only broken by the roar of 
wild beasts, as they went about at night 
seeking for their food. 

But Jesus was not afraid of them; He 
wanted to be all by himself, that He might 
pray to God, His Father, and think over the 
great work which He was so soon going to 
begin. 

God kept Him alive without food for the 
forty days that He was speaking to Him, 
and thinking so earnestly. At the end of 
that time, Jesus was hungry. I dare say 
He felt very weak and weary from His long 
fasting. Now, thought Satan, will be a 
good time for me to try to make Him do 



Christ's temptation. 27 

wrong. So he came to Jesus and said, 
" You are very hungry, and there is no food 
to be had in this desert, but that will not 
matter. If you really are the Son of God, 
you can soon turn these stones that lie 
around you into bread." 

But Jesus said, "No, I will not work a 
miracle only to please myself. I will trust to 
God to feed me in any way that He thinks 
fit. Man does not live by bread alone." 

You see it was like meat and drink to 
Jesus to do the will of His Father. 

Then Satan took Jesus to the temple at 
Jerusalem, to the top of a very high tower. 

"Now," said Satan, "throw yourself 
down ; you will not be hurt, for God your 
Father will take care of you. It is said in 
the Scriptures, ' The angels shall bear thee 
up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot 
against a stone.' " 

Jesus said, "No, I will not do as you 
wish. It is written in the Scriptures, 
4 Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.' " 
God only works miracles for wise ends, 
not for the sake of making a wonder. Jesus 
knew that he could not expect His Father 
to take care of Him, if He went into dan- 



28 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

ger on purpose. He could come down 
from the tower by the steps in the usual 
way ; He need not throw Himself from the 
top in order to reach the ground. 

Satan now took Jesus to the top of a 
very high mountain, and showed Him all 
the kingdoms of the world, and the glory 
of them. " All these," said he, " I will give 
Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship 
me. You say you are to be King over all 
the earth ; seek my help, and your kingdom 
shall be set up in the world, without any 
giving up of life and ease on your part." 

But Jesus said, u Get thee hence, Satan, 
for it is written, c Thou shalt worship the 
Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou 
serve.' My kingdom is not one of show 
and splendor, it is one in the hearts of men." 

Then Satan went away. The Holy Jesus 
would not yield to him when he tried to 
lead Him into sin. 

Adam and Eve listened to the Evil One, 
they believed his lies, and disobeyed God ; 
but Christ, who is called the Second Adam, 
was tempted, and did not fall. 

Satan comes to us all with just the tempt- 
ation he thinks we shall listen to. To one 



Christ's temptation. 29 

lie says, " I would not bear that cross word ; 
give a hard word back again;" and lie 
tempts to revenge. 

To another he whispers, "Hide up that 
fault ; your mother will never know ; " and 
he tempts to deceit. 

Or he may say, " How diligent you are, 
when your companions are careless and 
idle ;" and he tempts to pride. 

Oh, he has many ways of coming to us, 
but let us say, as Jesus did, c c Go away Sa- 
tan, I will not listen to your wicked teach- 
mgs. 

Jesus knows how hard it is for us to do 
right, when the devil tempts us to do 
wrong. One reason why He let the devil 
come to Him was, that He might know 
how hard it was to say "No" to him. 

When the devil comes to tempt us, Jesus 
is by us too, watching to see if we mind 
his words, and ready to help us to do right, 
if we only ask Him. 

God sent help to Jesus as soon as Satan 
had gone away. We are told that angels 
came and brought Him the food He so much 
needed. How glad they always were to do 
the least thing that He wanted ! 



Luke v. ; 1-11. John i., 35-45. 

YOU will often read in tlie New Testa- 
ment of the twelve disciples of Jesus. 
Do you know what the word Disciple 
means ? It means a learner.* These twelve 
men were learners of Christ. All who 
learned of Him were His disciples; but 
these twelve were with Him always, and 
learned of Him the most. They are call- 
ed Apostles, too, because Jesus sent them 
out into different parts of the country to 
teach others. The word Apostle means 
" one who is sent." 

The disciples were also the friends of 
Christ. He told them things about God and 
about Himself that He did not tell people 
generally. They loved Jesus dearly, and 
He loved them too, and took great pains to 
correct their mistakes, and to make them 
good. 

Peter, James, and John are the three 
that we read most about. John was the 
disciple that was the most like his Master 



THE CALLING OF THE DISCIPLES. 31 

.in spirit, and he was called "the disciple 
that Jesftsjoved." 

One day John the Baptist was teaching 
his disciples or learners, when Jesus passed 
by. He was just talking to them about 
Jesus, and as he saw Him looking so calm, 
so gentle, so meek, he said, "Behold the 
Lamb of God!" Two of John's disciples 
heard his words, and as they looked at Jesus, 
they felt the words were true ; so they turn- 
ed at once, and followed Him. 

It was about four o'clock in the after- 
noon when they went after Jesus. They 
did not speak to Him, lest they should dis- 
turb Him. Jesus knew that in their hearts 
they wanted to speak to Him, so He turned 
round and said to them kindly, " What is it 
you wish for?" 

They said, very timidly, " Will you tell 
us where you live ?" 

Jesus said, u Come with me, and I will 
show you where I live." 

Then they were very glad ; this was just 
what they wanted, only they did not like to 
ask. 

Jesus is the greatest Teacher that has 
ever lived in this world, and yet He did not 



32 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

make Himself very grand. No; it was 
always easy for any one who really wanted 
to be His disciple, to see Him and to talk 
with Him. 

The names of these two young men were 
— John, who was afterwards called the be- 
loved disciple ; and Andrew. They spent 
all that evening with Jesus, and the more 
they saw of Him the more they loved Him : 
they felt quite sure now that He was the 
Son of God. They went and told some 
other young men what they knew about 
Jesus. Andrew went first of all to his own 
brother, Simon Peter, and said, " We have 
found Christ." He brought him to Jesus, 
and Peter became one of Christ's disciples. 

These young men lived by the sea of 
Galilee, for they were fishermen. 

One day as Jesus was walking by the sea- 
shore, He saw two ships ; one of them belong- 
ed to Peter. There were a great many peo- 
ple crowding round Jesus to hear Him talk, 
so He said to Peter, " Let me get into your 
empty ship, and push it away from the 
land a little way ; then I shall be able to 
speak to the people, so that all can hear me." 

Then Jesus taught the people out of the 



THE CALLING OF THE DISCIPLES. 33 

ship. When He had quite finished teach- 
ing, He said to Peter, " Push your ship out 
now into deep water, and throw your nets 
down into the sea." 

Peter said, " Master, we have been trying 
all night to catch fish and we have caught 
nothing, but as Thou sayest ' Throw in the 
net,' I will do so." 

Peter threw in the net, and at once it 
was full of fishes — so full that the net broke 
with their weight. 

Then Peter called his partners, who were 
in the other ship, to come and help him. 
So James and John went to the ship and 
helped to pull up the net ; and they filled 
both their ships with the fishes. When 
Peter saw their number, he was astonished 
and frightened. He felt that Jesus was 
more than man to work such a miracle. 
He felt that he was a sinful man, and not. 
worthy to be so near to Him, so he begged 
Jesus to go away from him. 

Jesus told him not to be afraid because 
he had seen this wonderful draught of 
fishes. " Have faith in me, and you will 
see me do yet more wonders, and I will 
teach you to bring men to know me too * 



34 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

He and his partners, James and John, 
then brought their ships to land, and left 
them in care of some hired men, while they 
followed Jesus wherever He went. 

They left all that they had, to go with 
Him : there was nothing in the world that 
they cared for so much as to learn of Him, 
and listen to His sayings. 

I have now told you about John and 
James, who were brothers, and Simon Pet- 
er and Andrew, who were brothers. 

There was one young man who lived in 
the same place with Andrew and Peter; 
his name was Philip. 

Jesus said to him, u Follow me." 

At once he came ; he knew that Jesus 
was the Messiah for whom the Jews had so 
long been hoping. 

Then there was Matthew, a tax-gatherer, 
who had often heard Jesus speak. One 
day Jesus said to him, " Follow me." 

He was very glad to hear Jesus ask him 
to come and be with him wherever He 
went ; so he gave up all at Christ's bidding, 
and followed Him. 

At other times Jesus chose the rest of 
the twelve apostles. I have already told 



NICODEMUS. 35 

you of six — James and John, Andrew and 
Peter, Philip and Matthew. Beside these 
there were Thomas, Bartholomew (who was 
the same as Nathaniel,) another James, 
Simon (called Zelotes,) Judas or Jude, who 
wrote one of the epistles or letters in the 
Bible, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed 
Christ. 



8. 8ft* Mm & %\c&tom%. 

John iii., 1-15. 

THE Pharisees, as I told you before, 
were a party among the Jews, who 
were mostly rich and learned men. They 
were also very proud, and thought them- 
selves much better than other people. 
Their outward conduct was very strict, but 
in general their hearts were full of self- 
glorying and unkind thoughts of others. 

They thought that when Messiah came 
He would be a king, just like other kings 
on earth ; and that He would be sure to 



36 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

give them the chief places in His kingdom, 
and make much of them. 

Now Messiah has come. He is Jesus of 
Nazareth. He has gone from the sea of Gal- 
ilee, where He called some of His disciples ; 
and He is working miracles, and is teaching 
in Jerusalem. The Pharisees look on, but 
they say, " This new teacher is only the 
son of a carpenter. He cannot be the 
Christ." 

They turn away, and talk among them- 
selves, and say, "This man from Nazareth 
teaches strange things. He says God is His 
Father. And then see how he cures all 
manner of diseases. If He were but rich, 
we might think He was the King of Israel ; 
but that cannot be. His disciples are only 
poor fishermen : we do not know that any 
rich men will believe in Him." 

But there was one among them named 
Nicodemus, who, when he reached his 
home that day, thought over all that he 
had seen and heard of Jesus. 

He thought to himself, "I cannot under- 
stand this new teacher: I should like to 
talk to Him all alone. I will go and see 
Him, but I will wait till it is dark, for I 



NICODEMUS. 37 

should not like any to know that I went to 
learn of Him." So, when all was still in 
the streets of Jerusalem, Nicodemus qui- 
etly left his home, and went to the house 
where Jesus was staying. 

He knocked at the door, and asked for 
Jesus. Jesus did not say, a I am tired 
with teaching all day ; you must go away, 
and let me rest now. Besides, if you are 
ashamed to be seen talking to me, I will 
have nothing to say to you. 7 ' No; Jesus 
was always courteous, and always ready for 
His great work : He at once listened to 
what Nicodemus had to say. 

"Master," he said, "I know you must 
be sent from God to teach men, for no one 
could do the wonders that you do, if God 
did not give him the power." 

"I am from God," said Jesus; " I have 
come to set up His kingdom on earth, but 
not the kind of kingdom that you expect — 
not one that you can see, nor one of earth- 
ly grandeur. Do not think that because 
you are a Jew and a Pharisee, you will 
have a share in my kingdom. I tell you 
truly, that unless you are born again you 
can have no part in it." 



38 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

" Born again !" cried Nicodemus : " what 
does that mean ?" 

"Yes," said Jesus; "I speak the truth. 
God's Spirit must change a man's heart be- 
fore he will be able to enter that kingdom. 
A man naturally loves to please himself ; 
but, in the new life that God gives, he will 
be quite changed, for he will seek to please 
God, and care for that which He thinks 
much of. He is like another man, after he 
listens to and obeys God's Spirit." 

Nicodemus looked very much astonished. 

Jesus said, u Do not wonder, Nicodemus, 
at my saying, 'You must be born again/ 
I know that it is difficult to explain all 
about a man's soul. But look at the wind : 
it blows where it pleases ; you cannot tell 
where it comes from, nor where it goes. 
You can see what it does, but you cannot 
see it So you can see what God's Spirit 
does. When you see the proud grow hum- 
ble, the angry grow meek, the selfish grow 
loving-— then you see the work of God's 
Spirit. You can see the same man chang- 
ed into a new man, as if he were indeed 
born again." 

Again Nicodemus asked, " How can it 



NICODEMUS. 39 

be?" He did not like to think that his 
birth as a Jew went for nothing, nor that 
if he was to be a sharer in the kingdom of 
heaven, his heart must be entirely changed. 

Jesus said, " Are you a teacher in Israel, 
and do you not understand that God's king- 
dom is in the hearts of men ? God's way of 
saving men is not as you think. You think 
that the Messiah will come and reign over 
the Jews with greater splendor than Solo- 
mon of old ; but I tell you that the Mes- 
siah will have to suffer and die, and that 
it will be through His death that the whole 
world, and not the Jews only, will be 
saved. 

" You may not understand this yet, but 
by-and-by you will see more plainly God's 
great love to the world in sending His Son 
to die for it." 

Nicodemus then left Jesus. We may be 
quite sure that he never forgot the conver- 
sation of that night, and that he thought 
of it three years afterwards, when he saw 
Jesus lifted up on the cross, dying to give 
life to the world. 

I dare say he often came to Jesus to 
speak with Him, after this first visit, and 



40 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

that he learned to love Him very much. 
When Jesus was dead, he brought costly 
spices to embalm his body ; a mixture of 
myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds 
weight. What a change from the Nicode- 
mus, who at the first came to Jesus by 
night. 

Children ! do not say, "lam sure to go 
to Heaven, because I am born in a Christian 
land, of pious parents." Unless your hearts 
are made new by God's Spirit, you cannot 
enter there. You must be born again. 
God waits to give you His Spirit. He 
says, " Ask and ye shall have." Will you 
not pray, " Lord, for Jesus' sake, give 
me Thy Holy Spirit?" 



9. m* Mmj of Mxt f ivitwj mmtix. 

John iv., 1-42. 

THE Pharisees in Jerusalem were very 
angry with Jesus, because many peo- 
ple, seeing the wonders that He did, be- 
lieved on Him. They would not love Him 



THE LIVING WATER. 41 

themselves, because He reproved their 
pride, and did not teach the things that 
they did. Jesus, seeing their dislike to 
Him, said to His disciples, " We will go 
back to Galilee, and leave Jerusalem for a 
little time." 

It would take three days to go from Je- 
rusalem to Galilee, straight through the 
country of Samaria ; and this was the road 
that Jesus now took. 

When they came near a city of Samaria, 
called Sychar or Shechem, Jesus sat down 
by the well outside the city. 

He was very tired, and hot, and thirsty, 
so He rested there while His disciples went 
into the city to buy some food. 

It was about twelve o'clock in the 
morning, when a women came to the well 
to draw some water, and saw Jesus sitting 
there alone. 

She gave Him some, and said, "How is 
it that you ask me to give you water, for 
you are a Jew, and I am a woman of Sa- 
maria ? The proud Jews are not willing to 
take anything from the despised Samari- 
tans." 

Jesus said, " You do not know who I 



42 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

am. I have taken some water from you, 
but if you knew me, you would ask me to 
give you some ever-springing, living water." 

"Sir," said she, "how do you get this 
water ? You have no pitcher with you to 
draw it up, and the well is deep." 

Jesus said, "I am not speaking of the 
water at the bottom of this well, for those 
who drink of this water will thirst again. 
But he that drinks of the water that I will 
give, shall never thirst, for it shall be in 
him a well of water springing up into ever- 
lasting life." 

The woman was glad to hear of water 
ever fresh, ever springing up, which she 
could always carry with her. There would 
be no need then for weary, hot, dusty walks 
from the city to the well. Not to thirst 
again ! What a delightful thought, in that 
hot country ! 

She did not quite understand yet, that it 
was not real water that Jesus was speaking 
about. It was life in the soul He meant. 

When you are very hot and thirsty, do 
you not long for pure, cool water ? And 
when you have drunk as much as you want, 
do you not feel refreshed and strong ? 



THE LIVING WATER. 43 

And have you not sometimes felt very- 
tired of naughty ways, and longed to be 
good, as you long for water when you are 
thirsty ? 

As water satisfies the thirst of the body, 
so will Jesus satisfy the thirst of your soul 
for goodness. 

I cannot altogether explain how, for you 
must learn this of yourself; " the well of 
living water is in you," Jesus says. 

Go to Him, and ask Him to take away 
sin, which is like death to the soul, and 
He will give you life and strength to be 
good. 

Jesus then went on talking to the woman 
about her past life. 

She said, " Sir, you must be a prophet 
to know so much about me, for you have 
never seen me before." 

Jesus told her He was more than a proph- 
et ; He was the Messiah — the Christ prom- 
ised to the world so long ago. 

The woman then left her pitcher, and 
ran back to the city to tell her neighbors 
that she had found the promised Christ. 

While she was gone, the disciples, who 
had by this time come back from Sychar 



44 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

with the food they had bought, said, 
" Master, why do you not eat ?" 

They had left Jesus hungry and tired, 
and now He did not seem to notice the 
food they offered Him. They thought that 
perhaps some one had given Him some- 
thing to eat. 

He then explained to them that He had 
been so busy that He had forgotten His 
hunger. It was meat and drink to Him to 
do His heavenly Father's w T ill. 

The woman came back again with many 
more people, and they asked Jesus if He 
would stay in their city a little while. 
Jesus stopped two days, teaching them and 
answering their questions ; and the people 
said to the woman, " Now we believe, not 
because of what you have said, for we 
have heard Him ourselves, and we know 
that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour 
of the world." 

After two days, Jesus and His disciples 
left Sychar, and continued their journey to 
Galilee. 



John iv., 46-54. Luke iv., 16-37. 

THERE was great sorrow in the house 
of a nobleman at Capernaum, for one 
of his children was very ill. In vain did 
the doctors come, for no medicine would 
cure ; and the parents, in deep grief, watch- 
ed the progress of the fever. 

At last some one said, " Jesus of Naza- 
reth has returned from Jerusalem ; he is now 
at Cana, perhaps he will make the child 
well." 

Cana was not far from Capernaum, so 
the nobleman said, " I will go at once to 
Jesus, and see if He will come here to heal 
my son." 

He soon found Jesus, for His fame was 
very great ; and he begged Him very earn- 
estly to go back with him at once to Caper- 
naum before the child was dead. 

He believed that when Jesus saw him, 



46 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

He could cure him, but lie thought if the 
child was (fead, then even He could do 
nothing. 

Jesus now showed the nobleman that He 
had more power than he thought — God 
had put into the hands of His Son power 
to do any miracle. 

Jesus could make the child well again, 
if he stayed at Cana, just as easily as if He 
went to Capernaum and saw him. 

He said to the poor troubled father, " Go 
home again, your son is cured." 

The nobleman believed that Jesus had 
cured his son, when He spoke these words ; 
so he turned to go home again. 

As he was returning, he met some of his 
servants, who were bringing him the good 
news that his son was better. 

" When did he begin to get well?" the 
father asked. 

They replied, " Yesterday, at the seventh 
hour, the fever left him." 

The father knew that that was the exact 
time when Jesus had told him his son 
should live. Now he knew that Jesus could 
do anything. He and all his family, when 
they saw the kindness and power of Jesus 



HEALING THE NOBLEMAN'S SON. 47 

in sending health to this sick child, knew 
that He must be the Son of God. 

The fame of Jesus now grew exceeding- 
ly. They who had sick friends brought 
them to Jesus, and He healed them all. I 
No disease was too bad — no one had been 
ill too long — for Jesus to cure. 

You would have thought that all men 
would have loved him; but, sad to say, 
they did not. 

About this time Jesus went to Nazareth, 
where he had spent his childhood and 
youth. 

The people there had heard of His mir- 
acles, and all eyes were turned on Him one 
Sabbath-day, when He entered the syna- 
gogue or Jewish place of worship. 

He took the roll of parchment on which 
the prophecies were written, which they 
handed to Him to read aloud to them. He 
unrolled the scroll, and read from Isaiah, 
Ixi., 1. It was where the prophet was tell- 
ing how, in time to come, God would send 
Messiah to preach good news to the poor, 
to heal the broken-hearted, to set the cap- 
tives free, to give sight to the blind. After 
Jesus had read these words, He closed the 



48 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

scroll and sat down. Every one looked up 
in astonishment and in silence. 

Jesus then said, "Jam the Messiah of 
whom the prophet speaks. I am come for 
the very purpose to set men free from the 
power of Satan and from habits of sin. I 
am come to bring light to the minds of 
men, by teaching them about God. I am 
tcome to speak words of pardon and com- 
fort to those who are sorry for their sin." 

At first, all who heard Jesus speak won- 
dered very much that a man whom they 
had known from a little child should say 
that he came to do these great things. 

They said, " Is He not the son of Jo- 
seph? we cannot believe Him." 

They said Jesus was a false teacher, and 
they did not want these gifts. They did 
not feel their sins a burden, they did not 
think themselves ignorant of God. 

If He had said, " I am come to make the 
Jews a great nation ; I am come to give 
you riches ; I am come to give you fame ; 
I am come to give you the good things of 
this life ;" they would have listened. 

They did not want to be saved from sin, 
so they refused the Saviour, and they 



JESUS STILLING THE TEMPEST. 49 

would have killed Him at once, had not 
He hid Himself from them. 

He was willing to die, but the right time 
was not yet come. He had more wonders 
to do, more people to cure, and many more 
to teach, before He laid down His life for 
the sins of the world. 



11. » Mm ** I<« mum tft* 

Matt, viii., 18-27. Mark iv., 35-41. Luke viii., 
22-25. 

JESUS had no home of His own while 
He lived on earth. One day a man 
came to Him, and said that he would go 
with Jesus wherever He went. 

Jesus said, "I have no home for you to 
come to. The foxes have their holes to 
live in, the birds are warm in their little 
nests, but I have no place to call my own, 
where I can lay my head." 

Was it not wonderful love of Jesus, to 
leave His bright home in Heaven to come 



50 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

and live on earth without a place of rest ? 
About this time He most likely lived in 
Peter's house at Capernaum, by the lake of 
Gennesaret. 

He would often go into the ships of His 
disciples while they caught their fish, and 
He would sometimes teach the people on 
the shore, while He sat in a ship close by. 

One evening Jesus said that He should 
like to cross over to the other side of the 
lake. Then He and His disciples, and a 
few more men, went into a ship. 

All at once a strong wind began to blow, 
and the water became very rough. 

Now the waves get stronger and stronger, 
and rise higher and higher, till they dash 
over the little ship. The wind roars, and 
a black tempest darkens the sky. 

Though the men on board are used to the 
sea, they cannot manage the vessel in this 
terrible storm. The waves begin to fill the 
ship with water, and in great alarm the dis- 
ciples went to Jesus. Where was He all 
this time ? He was fast asleep. He was 
very tired, for He had been teaching a great 
many people all day long ; and as soon as 
He got into the ship, He went to the farther 



JESUS STILLNG THE TEMPEST. 51 

end of it, and laid His head upon a pillow, 
and the movement of the vessel soon rocked 
Him to sleep. 

The noise of the wind and the waves had 
not awaked Him, but He awoke at once 
when He heard the voice of His disciples 
asking His help. 

" Master, master," they cried, " we perish! 
Do yon not care for us ? Lord, save us !" 

He arose at once, and said to the wind, 
u Be still;" and then He turned to the 
waves, and said, u Be still." 

And the noisy wind heard that calm 
voice above all its roar, and was hushed to 
stillness ; and the raging waves listened to 
the commands of their Lord and Master, and 
and became smooth and quiet. 

The angry storm, at one word from Jesus, 
changed to a great calm. 

The men in the ship feared exceedingly. 
Who could He be who could make even the 
wind and the sea obey His voice ? They 
might well say, that " God alone could do 
that." Jesus is God as well as man, and 
that is why all things in nature owned His 
power. 

When Jesus had quieted the fears of His 



52 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

disciples, He gently reproved them for their 
want of faith in Him. 

11 Why were you afraid ?" he said. u You 
should have believed that I would have 
taken care of you. I knew that you were 
tossed about, though I was asleep." 

It is not only raging seas that Jesus calms ; 
He can still the angry passions of men, too. 
Have you never felt something like a storm 
within you, when conscience begged you 
not to yield to the power of evil habits — ■ 
when a sudden wish to do wrong was met 
by the thought, " How can I thus sin?" In 
that hour of strife between good and evil, 
turn to Jesus and ask His help. He will 
send a calm, for the evil will flee at His 
presence, and leave you strong for good. 



12. Mt Mmj at %tm tnxinq i\um 

Mark v., 1-21. Luke viii., 26-40 ; xi. ; 14-26. 

YOU will often read in the New Testa- 
ment about Jesus curing people who 
were possessed with devils. I can hardly 
you what this sad disease was that Jesus 
cured. It seemed to be a kind of madness, 
in which people lost their senses, and fan- 
cied that an evil spirit lived within them, 
making them do dreadful things. 

A poor man who was thus afflicted lived 
at Gadara, the little town at which Jesus 
landed after He had stilled the tempest. 
This poor man lived among the dreary 
gravestones and old tombs of the wilder- 
ness. He was very fierce, and men were 
afraid to pass by the place where he was. 
It was no use to chain him, for he broke 
his chains to pieces, and got loose again. 
There he was all day and all night, in lone- 
ly places, crying out and cutting himself 
with stones. 

5* 



54 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Hearing the noise of the landing of the 
vessel, he turned and saw Jesus and His 
disciples come out of the ship.' 

He ran to meet Jesus, and fell down at 
His feet, and cried very loud. 

Jesus told the evil spirits to come out 
of the man. 

The evil spirits said, u What have we to 
do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God ? 
Art Thou come to punish us before the 
judgment-day ?" 

Jesus now spoke to the man } and said, 
44 What is your name?" 

The devils would not let the man speak ; 
they answered their name was " Legion," 
which means many. They said to Jesus, 
44 Do not make us leave the man, but if You 
do cast us out, let us go into the swine that 
are feeding on the hills." 

Jesus now spoke to the evil spirits, and 
told them they might go. 

Then the devils went out of the man and 
entered into the swine, and the herd ran 
down the mountain-side into the sea, and 
were drowned. 

The man was now quite cured, and could 
listen to Jesus, He was in his right mind. 



THOSE POSSESSED WITH DEVILS. 55 

He felt so loving and grateful to Jesus for 
making him well, that he wished to follow 
Him everywhere. 

Jesus said, "No, go to your home, and 
tell all your friends what great things God 
hath done for you." 

The people of Gadara who saw this won- 
derful cure were afraid of Jesus, and beg- 
ged Him to go away. Did they suppose 
the gentle Jesus evqr harmed any one ? His 
power was always used for mercy ; it was 
only used against disease, and sin, and evil. 

At another time a poor man was brought 
to Jesus, who was troubled with an evil 
spirit that made him deaf and dumb. 

Jesus told the devil to leave the man, 
and he did so. 

When he was gone> the poor man could 
both hear and speak. 

All who saw the cure, wondered, and 
said, "This Jesus must be the Son of God." 

The Pharisees did not like to hear Jesus 
praised, for they hated Him, and were wick- 
ed enough to say that His great power was 
given to Him by Satan. " It is by the help 
of the Evil One that He casts out devils." 

Jesus told them that Satan would not 



56 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

cast out Satan, that evil would not fight 
against evil. Evil could not do good, and 
good could only come from God. 

"If," He said, "it is thus God's power 
that cures these poor people, then is God 
very near to you, and I warn you to believe 
my teachings." But the Pharisees only 
hated Jesus the more, because they knew 
He spoke the truth. 



13. Wkt 3tmj at %tm% mt\ laiw' 

Matt, ix., 11-13 ; 18-31. Mark v., 21-43. 
Luke viii., 41-56. 

WHEN Jesus left Gadara, He crossed 
the lake again and came to Caper- 
naum. A large crowd of people were 
waiting for Him. They asked Him a great 
many questions. 

The Pharisees were always trying to find 
fault with what Jesus did. They said to 
His disciples, u How is it that your Master 
goes to the houses of wicked people, and 



JAIRUS' DAUGHTER. 57 

eats and drinks with them ? He keeps bad 
company." 

Jesus heard them speaking to His disci- 
ples, so He turned to them and said, " You 
do not send a doctor to a man who is quite 
well, but you send him to a sick man. So 
I go to those whoss souls are sick, that I 
may cure them ; I go to sinners, to make 
them good. You proud Pharisees say that 
you are righteous, so you feel no need of 
me ; if you felt your need of a Saviour, I 
would come to you too." 

The Pharisees were as bad in their hearts 
as those who were plainly sinners, but they 
were like a man who is ill, and does not 
know it, and will not own it, and so will 
not send for a doctor. 

The soul of every one, even of a child 
is sick because it is sinful : will you not ask 
Jesus to cure yours and make it well, by 
making you good ? 

While Jesus was busy talking to different 
people, a man named Jairus came to Him, 
and kneeled at His feet, and beggqd Him 
very earnestly to come to his house direct- 

He said, " I have only one little daugh- 



58 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

ter ; she is twelve years old, and slie is dy- 
ing. Come, I pray you, at once, and put 
your hand on her and make her well again." 

Jesus then rose up to go with the sor- 
rowing father. His disciples went with 
Him, and a great crowd of people besides. 

After they had waited on a short dis- 
tance, Jesus turned round and said, " Who 
touched my clothes ?" 

Those nearest to Jesus all said that they 
had not touched Him. 

Then Peter said, " Master, how is it you 
ask who touched you ? The crowd is so 
great, that it is no wonder if some one has 
pressed against you." 

"Yes," said Jesus, "but somebody has 
touched my clothes on purpose to be heal- 
ed by touching them. Who is it ?" 

Then there came from among the crowd 
a poor woman, and she fell down at the 
feet of Jesus, and said, "It was I, Lord." 

She said, " I have been very ill for 
twelve years, and I have gone from one 
doctor to another to be cured, but all in 
vain. I have suffered a great deal of 
pain, and I get worse rather than better, 
and I have spent all my money. I heard 



JAIRUS' DAUGHTER. 59 

of you, Lord, and how you cured all man- 
ner of diseases ; so 1 thought if I could 
but touch the hem of your garment, I 
should be made well at once. It has been, 
too, exactly as I hoped, for the moment I 
touched you I felt quite well" 

The poor woman trembled very much 
all the while she was speaking to Jesus, for 
she was afraid that He would think that 
she had been too bold. 

But Jesus spoke to her very kindly, and 
told her that He was very much pleased 
with her faith in Him. " Daughter," He 
said, " be of good comfort, thy faith hath 
made thee whole : go home in peace." 

Just then some one came with a message 
from the house of Jairus, and said to him, 
44 Your daughter is dead, do not trouble the 
Master any further, for nothing can be 
done for her now." 

Jesus told the poor father not to be cast 
down at the sad news : " Be not afraid, 
only believe in my power, and she shall be 
made well again." 

At the door of the house the mother 
meets them, and a crowd of curious per- 
sons seek to enter the house with Jesus 



60 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

and His disciples. But Jesus will not let 
any one come in but Peter, James, and 
John. They then, with the father and 
mother of the little girl, go into the room 
where she lies dead. Already a great 
many people were in the room who were 
paid, as was then the custom, to play sad 
music, and sing sad songs, and make a 
great crying over the dead body. 

Jesus said to them, "Do not weep, the 
child is not dead, she is only sleeping." 

Jesus meant that her death would be as 
a sleep to her, for He could raise her out 
of it. 

These people did not wait to see what 
Jesus would do, but laughed at Him rude- 
ly, and said, u She is dead; you cannot 
make her alive now." 

Jesus put them all out of the room, for 
they were not worthy to see the great work 
He was going to perform. 

When the noisy mourners were gone, 
and He was alone with the father and moth- 
er, and Peter, James, and John, He took 
the hand of the little girl. Then he said 
to her, "Maiden, I say to thee, arise !" 

And the dead body heard the voice of 



RAISING THE WIDOW'S SON. 61 

Him who is the Life of the World, and she 
arose and walked about the room. 

Jesus said to her parents, " Give her 
something to eat; you see she is really 
alive and well.." 

The parents were very pleased to have 
their little girl well again ; and they, and 
all who heard about it, were very much 
surprised indeed at this wonderful miracle. 



14 Wht £ tov$ at %m% xM\u% ft* 

Luke vii., 11-17. 

I DARE say that you have often met a 
funeral when you have been out walk- 
ing. Is it not a sad sight to see the mourn- 
ers following to the grave the body of a 
dear friend ? 

Once when Jesus was walking along the 
road, he saw a funeral coming out at the 
gates of the little town of Nain. 

A great many people were walking after 
Jesus, for they liked to hear him talk, and 



62 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

they also liked to see the wonderful things 
which He was constantly doing. 

By-afid-by, they came close up to the 
funeral procession ; it was a very long one. 
All the people who followed the dead body 
seemed to be grieving very much indeed. 
It was a young man that they were carry- 
ing to the grave. He was lying on a bier, 
which is something like a coffin without 
a lid. 

One poor woman was crying very much, 
for she was the mother of that young man, 
and he was her only son : she was a widow 
too, and now she was very sad and lonely. 

Everybody felt very sorry for her, but no 
one had any power to take away her trouble. 
When Jesus saw her, He felt very sorry too, 
and He had power to help her, and make 
her glad again. He said to her very gently, 
44 Weep not." 

He then went to the bier, and touched 
it ; and those who were carrying it stood 
still, and all the crowd also stood still. 

No one spoke, but every one thought, 
44 What will the Master do ?" 

His disciples knew He could raise the 
dead, as well as cure the sick ; but perhaps 



RAISING THE WIDOW'S SON. 63 

many thought, "It is of no use to stop the 
funeral, for He cannot make the dead hear 
His voice ; they are past cure." 

Oh, what a time of hope and fear was 
that! 

Then Jesus spoke to the dead body, 
"Young man, I say unto thee, arise!" 

Will he hear ? Oh, yes ! death obeys the 
voice of its Lord, and at once, he that was 
dead sat up and began to speak. 

Then Jesus, with great grace and kind- 
ness, gave him to his mother, and said, 
" Here is your son alive again." 

So this funeral procession was changed 
into a joyful company, and every one won- 
dered at the great work that Jesus had just 
done. 

" He has raised a dead man to life again," 
people said, and the news spread in all the 
country round. Many people praised God 
for sending such a great prophet among 
them. "Surely," they said, "God hath 
visited His people." 



15. Mt $tm «* I*0M at tft* §mt^ irt 

Luke vii., 36. 

THE fame of the wonderful works of 
Jesus spread everywhere, and many- 
people wanted to see the man about whom 
every one was talking. 

One day a rich, proud Pharisee, named 
Simon, asked Jesus to come and dine with 
Him. I am afraid he only asked him to 
come because he wanted to hear Him talk, 
and not because he loved Him. 

However, Jesus told Simon that He 
would come. 

When Jesus went, Simon treated Him 
with great neglect : he did not honor Jesus 
as his guest. He ought to have brought 
Him some water to wash His feet, as this 
was the first thing that was done in coming 
into a house. As people in those countries 
only wore sandals, and not shoes, their feet 
would be very dusty after walking, and it 
was necessary to their comfort that they 
should often wash their feet. Then he 



JESUS AT THE HOUSE OF SIMON. 65 

should have given Him some sweet oint- 
ment, and also a kiss of welcome, which 
means nearly the same thing as our shake 
of the hands. 

But Simon paid none of these attentions 
to Jesus. Perhaps he thought that he was 
doing the Lord a great favour by asking 
Him to come to his house. 

When Jesus had sat down to dinner, a 
woman came into the room. 

She had heard that Jesus was in this rich 
man's house, and she came to the place 
where He was reclining, and stood at His 
feet. 

She began to cry very much, for she had 
been very naughty, and she longed to hear 
Jesus pardon her sins. She knew He would 
forgive her if she could but ask Him, as she 
was very sorry, and wished to forsake her 
sins. She loved Him dearly, and she felt 
sure that He would not send her away 
unfor given. 

Her tears fell fast — like a shower of rain 
on the feet of Jesus, and so she washed 
them. 

She then wiped them dry with her long 
hair,, and kissed His feet many times. 



66 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

She then opened a box that she had 
brought with her. It was a box of alabas- 
ter, a kind of pure white marble, and in it 
was some sweet, precious ointment. This 
she rubbed on the feet of Jesus. 

While she was doing this Simon looked 
on, and he was very much surprised that 
Jesus would even let the woman touch 
Him. 

He said to himself, for he did not dare 
say it out loud, " This Jesus is no prophet. 
If He were, He would know how wicked 
this woman has been, and He would have 
nothing do with her ; He would send her 
quite away." 

But Jesus did know and He knew too 
what was passing in Simon's thoughts. He 
turned to him, and said, " Simon, I have 
something to say to you." 

Simon said, " Master, what is it ?" 

" There was once a person to whom two 
men owed some money. One man only 
owed a little, the other owed a great deal. 
They had neither of them money at all 
with which to pay their debts. Then the 
man to whom they owed the money forgave 
them both, and said they need not pay 



JESUS AN THE HOUSE OF SIMON. 67 

anything. Tell me now which of these 
two' men will love him the most?" 

Simon said, " I suppose that he who ow- 
ed the most, and who had most forgiven, 
will love the most." 

"Yes," said Jesus, "that is quite right." 
He then turned to the woman and said to 
Simon, "Do you see this woman?" 

"Yes," said Simon. 

" When I came to your house, you gave 
me no water to wash my feet ; but she has 
washed my feet with her tears, and wiped 
them with the hair of her head. You gave 
me no kiss of welcome, but she has kissed 
my feet ever since she has been here. You 
poured no sweet oil upon my head, but she 
has rubbed my feet with precious ointment. 
She has done a great many sinful things, 
but I have forgiven her, and she loves me 
very much. You think that you have not 
much to be forgiven, so you only love me 
a very little. " 

Jesus then turned to the woman, and said 
to her in the kindest tones, "Your many 
sins are all forgiven you. You believed I 



68 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

would forgive you, and I have done so ; 
go to your home in peace." 

The poor woman went away comforted 
at heart by these kind words of Jesus, but 
the people who were sitting at the table 
with Jesus were very angry indeed. 

They would not believe that He could 
forgive sins, and they thought that He was 
taking on Himself the power of God, when 
He forgave the woman. 

" Who are you, that you should forgive 
sin ?" they said to Jesus. 

The poor sinful woman was wiser than 
the proud, self-righteous Pharisee. She 
knew that Jesus could pardon sin, for she 
felt He had done so by the peace that He 
had given her. 

Jesus will pardon your sins if you con- 
fess them to Him and desire to forsake them. 
Of course He will not forgive you, if you 
think yourself very good, as the Pharisees 
did. He does not love the proud, but He 
does love those who are very sorry for sin, 
and He will give them sweet comforting 
words- of pardon. 



— - ilihill 



A : J&8& li \"." i" I 111' 







16. wxt Mm rt t!w iwtfipl #w. 

Luke xv. ; 11-32. 

JESUS often taught people by parables. 
Do you know what a parable is ? It is 
a similitude. Perhaps you will understand 
better when I tell you that it is a kind of 
story, in which something is explained by 
showing what it is like. 

If I now tell you one of Chirst's para- 
bles, you will see what I mean. 

Jesus wanted people to know what love 
God felt for all those who were sorry for 
sin, and He showed them what that love 
was like, by the love of an earthly father 
for his naughty but repentant son. 

He said, u There was a man once who 
had two sons. 

" One day, the younger son said to his 
father, ' Father, give me my share of your 
money and goods.' " 

Then the father divided all that he had 
between his two sons. 

Not many days after this, the younger 



70 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

son put all his things together, and took 
them and his money with him, a long journ- 
ey into a country a great way off. He 
wished to get as far from his good father 
as he possibly could, for he knew he would 
not like to see how badly he went on. 

He kept rude, bad company, and ate and 
drank a great deal- too much. 

He not only spent his money, but he 
wasted it in a great many wicked ways. 

At last his money and his goods were 
quite gone, and there was a great famine, 
or scarcity of food, in all the country. 

He began to want for bread. 

His old companions would not help him. 
Now that he had no money to spend, they 
left him all alone. 

He could not starve : " What should he 
do?" 

He went to a man, and asked him to 
give him some work, so that he might earn 
something to eat. 

The man said, " I have no work to give 
you, unless you like to go into the fields to 
feed the herds of swine." 

There was nothing that a Jew hated 
worse than to keep pigs. Only the very 



THE PRODIGAL SON. 71 

lowest and the very poorest would do such 
a thing. 

But this young man, though he had once 
been rich, was glad to do it, and even to 
eat of the coarse food that he gave to the 
pigs. This was a kind of pulse or pea. 

No one gave him anything else to eat. 

Sad, starving, and almost naked, he be- 
gan to think. 

He thought of his old home, of his kind 
father, of his folly in leaving him, and 
wanting to do as he liked. Then he 
thought of all thq unhappiness his wicked 
ways had brought him to ; how his money 
was gone, and he had nothing left, and 
how not one of his sinful companions would 
help him now he was in trouble. 

Then he thought of the servants in his 
father's house ; even they were better off 
than he was. They had food enough and 
to spare, while he was dying of hunger. 

Then he said, " Why should I stop here ? 
I will go back to my father, and say, ' Fa- 
ther, I have sinned against God, and 
against you. I know I am not worthy to 
be called your son, but let me come to your 
house and be a servant ' " 



72 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

So he began to go back to his father, 
and at last he came within sight of his fa- 
ther's house, but as yet he was a great 
way off. 

The father happened to be looking along 
the road by which his son had gone away 
when he left his home. I dare say he was 
wondering what had become of him : he 
had not heard of him for so long. Perhaps 
he was wishing he could hear something 
about him, for he did not know whether 
he was alive or dead. At last he sees a 
poor ragged man walking in the distance : 
he comes nearer and nearer, he seems com- 
ing to the house. The poor ragged man 
is just about as tall as his youngest son, he 
is something like him too. Can it be his 
son come back, poor and wretched ? Yes, 
it is ; he knows him now, notwithstanding 
his rags, and his half-starved look. Oh ! 
how glad he feels : he runs at once to 
meet him. His heart is full of pity for his 
poor son. As soon as he comes up to him, 
and before the son can say one word, he 
throws his arms round his neck, and kisses 
him. 

" Father," says the son, in a voice so full 



THE PRODIGAL SON. 73 

of grief, that the father can only just hear 
him speak: " father, I have sinned against 
God in heaven, and against you. I do not 
deserve to be called your son." 

The father tells his servants to bring him 
not merely clothes, but the best robe ; and 
to put a ring on his hand, as a mark of 
honor, and shoes on his feet. 

He said, " Get ready the best food, too, 
kill the fatted calf, for we will have a feast 
and be merry. I thought my son was dead, 
but he is here alive ; I thought he was lost, 
but now he is found." 

I am sorry to say that the elder brother 
was very unkind. He was jealous because 
his father had made a feast for his brother. 

He said, "Your son" (he would not own 
him as his brother) " has been very wicked ; 
you ought not to take any notice of him, 
much less treat him with a feast." 

The father said, " It is only right that we 
should be glad, for he is come back sorry 
for his undutiful conduct ; his bad ways are 
all gone, and I have found a good son." 

That was the parable, or story, that Jesus 
told, and now I will tell you what He 
meant by it. 



74 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

You who do many naughty things, you 
go a long way from God, and put Him out 
of your thoughts, as the young man went 
into a far country to forget his father, and 
be out of his sight. 

When you begin to think of the kind and 
good God whose commands you have brok- 
en, and feel sorry that you have grieved 
Him by your naughty ways, then you are 
like the young man when he began to think 
of his father and his sins. 

When you think, " I will go to God, and 
tell Him I have sinned, and am most un- 
worthy of His love, " then you are like the 
young man when he said that he would go 
back to his father. 

But will God hear me when I go to Him ? 
Will He love me again, notwithstanding all 
my sins ? Will He indeed forgive me ? 

That was the truth that Jesus wanted to 
teach. Yes, did not the earthly father take 
back his son, in the most loving way, to his 
home and heart ? 

So God rejoices to see any sinner return- 
ing to Him : he waits to be gracious. 
God's heart is kinder and more tender than 
any earthly father's heart. 



THE LOST SHEEP. 75 

Jesus had lived in Heaven before He 
came to earth, and He knew how forgiv- 
ingly the Heavenly Father received the 
repentant sinner. He came to show us the 
Father. 

God can show us His fatherly love, be- 
cause Jesus died to bring us near to God, 
and because He bore the chastisement 
which our sins had deserved. 

But what about the jealous elder broth- 
er ? He was like the Pharisees, who out- 
wardly obeyed God, but had no love in 
their hearts, and had no pity for those who 
did wrong, even when they were sorry for it. 



17. m* Mmj at t\w f 01st Mu% mft 

Luke xv., 1-10. 

IN the parable of the repenting son, 
Jesus showed how God feels to those 
who are sorry for their sins. 

In the parables of the lost sheep, and of 
the lost money, He shows how the angels 



76 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

feel when men turn away from sin and pray 
to God. 

Jesus said, " There was once a shepherd 
who had a hundred sheep. He counted 
them over one day, and there were but 
ninety -nine ; one was missing. He left the 
ninety-nine sheep and went looking over 
the mountains to try to find the lost one. 
At last, to his great joy, he found it. He 
laid it across his shoulders, and brought 
it back to the flock. He then called all 
his friends together, and said to them, c Be 
glad with me, for I have found my lost 
sheep.' " 

It seemed dearer to him, now that he 
had found it, than the ninety-nine sheep 
which had never strayed away. 

There was a woman who had ten pieces 
of silver money. She lost one of the ten 
pieces. She swept her room all over to try 
to find it. Then she lit a candle, so that 
she might search into every corner. At 
last she found it, and that one piece seemed 
more precious to her than all the other nine. 

She called her friends together and said, 
" Rejoice with me, for I have found my 
lost money.' 7 



THE LOST SHEEP. 77 

As the shepherd rejoiced over his lost 
sheep when he found it, as the woman re- 
joiced over her lost money when she found 
it, so the angels rejoice over the return of 
even one lost soul to God. 

Why are the angels so glad? 

Because they know what a soul is worth. 
All the riches of the whole world are of 
no value compared with the soul of one 
little child. 

Yet people often think but little of their 
souls. Not so the angels. 

They know so well what a dreadful thing 
it is to be lost. They know the awful state 
of those angels whom God turned out of 
heaven because they sinned, and who now 
live in the dwelling-place of lost spirits. 
They grieve to think that anybody on earth 
should go there. They know that all those 
who do not love God, cannot live with Him 
in heaven, so they all rejoice when any one 
turns from sinful ways, and prays to God. 

Heaven is their home ; they have always 
lived there, and they know what a blessed 
place it is. That is why they are glad to 
think of any one coming to live with them 
in heaven. 

7* 



78 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

In the dreary winter, when it is snowing 
fast, when the wind blows coldly, while 
you are sitting round a blazing fire in a 
comfortable home, with kind friends all 
around you, do you ever think of those 
who have no home, no frinds, no comforts ? 

If you do, do you not wish that they 
could have such a happy home as yours ? 

So the angels look on us, as we wander 
away from our home in heaven, and from 
God our Father. 

They think of the poor straying sheep 
losing itself in the desert wilds, and oh, 
how glad they are when it is found ! 

You have strayed away from the fold of 
God, down into the paths of sin. Jesus is 
the good shepherd who seeks to save you. 
Will you not ask Him to bring you back 
again into holy ways, into the fold of God ? 
Will you not let the angels of Heaven re- 
joice over you because you are not going 
to be lost ? 

Or, will you let Satan and the wicked 
spirits rejoice to think, that by your sinful 
ways, you are getting more and more like 
them, and will one day come and live with 
them for ever ? 



is. m* mm of m f m&' % wmw. 

Luke xi. ? 1. 

JESUS often liked to be alone, that He 
might pray to His Father. 

He would go sometimes to the quiet 
mountain top, and spend the whole night 
in talking to and thinking of God. 

One day when He had finished praying, 
His disciples came to him and said : 

"Lord, will you teach us to pray ?" 

Jesus then taught them a short prayer. 
It was the prayer which we call "The 
Lord's Prayer." I dare say you all know 
it: 

" Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hal- 
lowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come, 
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heav- 
en : give us this day our daily bread, and 
forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them 
that trespass against us; and lead us not 
into temptation, but deliver us from evil ; 
for Thine is the kingdom, the power, and 
the glory, for ever and ever. Amen." 

This is not an easy prayer for little child- 



80 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

ren, but even they may understand some 
of its meaning. 

It begins, "Our Father, Who art in 
Heaven." 

God is our Father, because He made us ; 
but He is more our Father, because Jesus 
died to make us His children. It is through 
Jesus that we dare to call God " Father." 
. He is our Father in Heaven, so we must 
treat Him with reverence. Heaven seems 
near to us when we pray. 

"Hallowed be Thy name," means, let 
God's name be honored. 

" Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done 
on earth as it is done in Heaven." How 
is God's will done in heaven ? It is done 
always, it is done cheerfully, and it is done 
perfectly. How is God's will done on 
earth ? Alas ! only a few do it at all, and 
even those who do it best, do it very im- 
perfectly. But most men only do their 
own will, or Satan's will, so we may well 
pray, " Thy will be done." 

"Give us day by day our daily bread." 
It is God who gives us our daily food, and 
we may ask Him for that which is necessa- 
ry for us. 



THE LORD'S PRAYER. 81 

" Forgive us our trespasses, as we for- 
give them that trespass against us." What 
are trespasses? They are sins. I have 
heard one little child say to another who 
has done him a wrong, " I dont love you, 
and I won't forgive you." Have you ever 
said so ? I suppose you would like God 
to forgive you your sins ? You have sinned 
more against God than ever a brother could 
sin against you. What if God should turn 
away His face from you ; how unhappy it 
would make you feel ! 

Jesus said, " If you will not forgive those 
who sin against you, your Heavenly Father 
cannot forgive you your sins against Him." 

Before you pray to be forgiven, in your 
heart forgive all those who have done 
wrong to you; then will your Heavenly 
Father also forgive you. 

" Lead us not into temptation, but deliv- 
er us from evil." This is a prayer to God 
to keep us from listening to Satan, who is 
often watching us and trying to. tempt us 
to do evil. We are so weak that we ask 
God to help us and save us. 

"For Thine is the kingdom, the power, 
and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen." 



82 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

So the prayer ends with giving God all 
honor, as the High and Lofty One, who 
ever lives as the King over all. 

When Jesus had finished this prayer, He 
said to His disciples, " You may ask God 
for anything you want, it shall be given 
you." 

Then He said, "Suppose a little boy 
should come to his father, and say, l Father, 
I am hungry, will you give me some 
bread? 7 " 

Do you think the father would give him 
a stone. instead? 

No ; no kind father would give his child 
what he knows he cannot eat. 

Do you think then that God will give us 
what is of no use to us, instead of some- 
thing that we have asked Him for, and that 
we want very much indeed ? Oh, no. 

Then Jesus said, " Suppose a child should 
say, c Father, will you give me some fish ?' 
would he give him a serpent? Or, if he 
said, ' Father, will you give me an egg ?' 
would he give him a scorpion ?" 

No, you know that no father would give 
poisonous, hurtful things to a dear child, 
when he asked him for food. 



THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 83 

Dear children, your father knows how to 
give you good things, but he would not 
give you things that were not good for you. 

Your father knows how to give good 
things, but God only can give you the best 
things. 

Your father can give you a house to live 
in, and clothes, and food, and toys, and 
money, perhaps; but God can give you His 
Holy Spirit. Why is this best of all ? Be- 
cause the Holy Spirit will teach you to be 
good, and if you are good you will be hap- 
py. It is better to be good than to have 
all the fine things in the world : if you are 
good you will be like God, and live one 
day with Him for ever, and that will be 
best of all. 



19. 1ft* gtinj oi t\w $tmtm m tUt 

P*ttttt 

Matt, v-vii. 

ONE summer morning, Jesus sat down 
upon a mountain plain, and called 
His disciples around Him. 

There were a great many people there 
besides, and they all listened to the most 
wonderful sermon ever preached. 

I will not tell you all that Christ said, for 
you cannot understand it all yet. 

Though the sermon was long, the people 
who heard it were not tired, and they went 
away, saying, " What. wonderful teaching is 
this of Jesus ! He speaks as if He knew 
more than any other teacher that we ever 
heard." 

Jesus began by telling them who the 
happy people were. 

He did not say, " Blessed are the great, 
the rich, the famous." No; but "Blessed 
are those who feel that they are poor, and 
helpless, and wretched, unless they have 
God. 



THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 85 

" Blessed are those who grieve over their 
sins, and wish they were better and holier 
than they are. 

" Blessed are the meek and gentle-spir- 
ited. 

" Blessed are those who long to be quite 
good, as a hungry and thirsty man longs 
for food and drink. 

" Blessed are the merciful and kind- 
hearted. 

" Blessed are those who wish to be good 
in their hearts, to feel right as well as to do 
right. 

" Blessed are the peace-makers, for they 
shall be called the children of God." 

If you see any of your companions quar- 
relling, can you not be a little peace-maker 
between the two angry ones, by saying 
gentle, loving words to each ? 

Jesus said, " You, my disciples, must be 
like a light in a dark place ; you must be so 
good, that men may learn of you to love 
God and goodness. Your goodness must 
not be like that of the Pharisees, for they 
do right that men may praise them. They 
are like a cup that is washed clean outside, 
but is un washed and dirty inside. They 



86 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

do not care about having sinful thoughts 
and feelings, as men cannot see into their 
hearts. You must do right, not that men 
may say, c How good you are,' but that God 
your Heavenly Father may be praised, by 
your goodness." 

Then Jesus said, you must be kind and 
forgiving to one another. I do not mean 
only to those who are kind and loving to 
you, but even to those who are unkind, 
and are your enemies. You must be like 
your Father in heaven, for He is kind and 
good even to the unthankful and the un- 
worthy. 

You must not be always looking out for 
the faults of others. Look into your own 
hearts, for your own faults. You will see 
how many you have, and how great they 
are, so you will learn to think kindly of 
other people's faults. 

If you wish to go to Heaven you will 
meet with many difficulties in the way. 
It is easy to walk in the way that leads to 
hell. It is like a broad and smooth road, 
pleasant to travel on. If you walk in this 
road you can be as unkind, as naughty, as 
selfish as you like. But if you walk in the 



THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 87 

narrow way you will often find it rough. — 
so rough that only a few will venture in it. 
In a word, you must give up seeking to 
please yourselves, and try to please God 
and to do His will rather than your. own. 
You must be patient, and good, and loving. 
You must feel right and think right, as well 
as do right. 

But though the narrow way is hard, it 
has joys which are never known in the 
broad and easy way. There is pleasure in 
overcoming difficulties, there is peace in 
doing right, there is joy in God's smile, and 
His help is always ready for those who 
ask it. 

Jesus said, "It is of no use for you to 
say that you belong to me, unless you real- 
ly do what I tell you. 

" The man who hears what I say, and 
who does what I tell him, is like a man 
who built his house upon a rock." One 
day, a heavy storm came down like a flood. 
The wind blew loud and strong, and the 
wind and the rain together beat upon that 
house, but it did not fall. Why ? Because 
its foundation was a strong rock. 

Another man built his house upon the 



88 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

sand by the sea-shore. One day the sky 
became very dark, and the large black 
clouds burst over his house in torrents of 
rain. The wind roared loud, and beat hard 
upon the house, and it fell, and great was 
the fall of it. Why ? Because its founda- 
tion was weak, shifting sand. 

The foundation, or that on which the 
house is built, must be firm and strong, or 
the house will not stand. It does not mat- 
ter how strongly the house is built, if the 
foundation on which it rests is weak. The 
house then will be sure to fall. 

Jesus said, that those that heard what 
He said and did not obey Him, were like 
the foolish man who built upon the sand. 

Children, if you do right out of love to 
Chirst, you will not do right to be seen by 
others, nor will you yield to others when 
they tempt you to wrong. Your reason 
for doing right is built upon the rock — 
Christ. 

But if you do right to be praised by men, 
or if you know what you ought to do, but 
do it not, then you are like the foolish man 
— your goodness is without a foundation. 



20. m* Mm tf I<« ft^K«0 tit* p$w 

Mark ii, 1-12. Luke v., 17-26. 

YOU may be sure that the Pharisees 
did not like such sermons as those 
that Jesus preached. They did not like 
that He should see through their outside 
covering of goodness, into the wicked self- 
ishness of their hearts, 

They showed their dislike by acting as 
spies upon all He did and said, and were 
always trying to find fault with Him. 

They said that he made himself equal 
with God, and pretended to have more 
power than He really had. 

I will tell you how it was that they said 
He made Himself greater that He really 
was. 

Jesus had been away from His house in 
Capernaum for a few days, into the towns 
and villages near, to preach to the people 



90 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

there. When he returned home again, a 
great many people came to His house. 
Some were sick people who came to be made 
well; some were people in trouble who 
came to be comforted ; some came to be 
taught, some came out of curiosity, and 
some came to find fault. Altogether there 
were a great many people there, so that 
the doorway was quite crowded. 

The Saviour was interrupted in His 
teaching by a noise outside the door. 
There seemed to be a great deal of push- 
ing and loud talking. What do you think 
it was all about ? 

A poor man who was ill with palsy, so 
that he could not use any of his limbs, or 
turn himself round in bed, or help himself 
in any way, wanted his friends to take him 
to Jesus. Beside all his pains of body, he 
was very unhappy because of his sins, so 
he wanted to be made well in body and 
mind too. 

His friends seeing his great distress, said 
that four of them would carry him on his 
bed to Jesus. 

The beds in those countries were only a 
very thin soft mattress, no bigger than a 



THE MAN WHO HAD THE PALSY. 91 

hearthrug, and used to be laid upon the 
ground. 

The four men went each to a corner of 
the bed, and carried the sick man along 
the streets, till they came to the house 
where Jesus was. When they came to it, 
they found that they could not get through 
the door for the crowd. It was of no use 
to push, or call out to the people to move ; 
there was no room to carry a sick man 
along. 

The poor man said, " Do not carry me 
home again, I must see Jesus." 

The man's friends said, " We cannot pos- 
sibly get into the house." 

They then thought of another and a 
strange way to reach the Saviour. 

There was a staircase outside the house 
which led to the roof. The roofs of all 
houses in those countries were flat, so that 
people could walk as well upon the house- 
tops as they could upon the floor of a room. 

The four men carried their sick friend 
up this outside staircase on to the flat roof. 
There was a door in the roof leading to an 
inside staircase, but this was not large 
enough to let a man through lying on his 



92 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

bed, so they made the opening larger by- 
breaking away some of the tiles. Then 
they let him down into the room where 
Jesus was sitting. 

The Saviour was pleased to see their 
faith, and directly spoke to the sick man. 

First of all, He quieted the sorrow of his 
soul for his sins : He said, " Be comforted, 
your sins are forgiven you." 

The people who came to find fault with 
Jesus now said in their hearts, " What a 
wicked man this Jesus must be, to pretend 
that He can forgive this man his sins, when 
only God can do that!" 

You know that Jesus can forgive sin be- 
cause He is God, but then wicked men 
would not believe that He was the Son 
of God. 

He could see into their hearts too, and 
knew the thoughts that were there. 

He said to them, " You think that I can- 
not forgive sins ; but which is the easiest 
thing to do, to say to the man, c Your sins 
are forgiven you,' or to tell him to get up 
and walk ? I never say that I have power 
to do anything, without really having that 
power, and to show you how true this is, I 



SOME SABBATH-DAY CURES. 93 

say now to the sick man, c Arise, take up 
your bed, and walk back to your home.' " 

Then the poor man, who before could 
not move a limb, but was obliged to be 
carried to Jesus, now rose, rolled up his 
bed, put it across his shoulders, and walk- 
ed home. 

The people who looked on feared and 
wondered : they said, " We never saw any- 
thing like this before. Strange things 
have happened to-day." 

They could but feel that it was only God 
who had the power to put life into those 
palsied limbs : therefore, He who could do 
this had also the power of God to forgive 
sins. 



21. Wa» $tjmj af mxt ^aMwtMatj 

Luke vi., 6-11. Luke xiii., 10-17. Luke 
xiv., 1-6. 

THE enemies of Jesus found yet more 
fault with Him. Now they said that 
He did not keep holy the Sabbath-day. 



94 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

One Sabbath morning Jesus went into a 
synagogue to teach, and a man was there 
whose hand was so withered that he could 
not move it. The Saviour saw the poor 
man, and His enemies saw him too. 

They watched Jesus, to see if He would 
heal him or not ; for, if He did so, they 
pretended that it would be as bad as work- 
ing *on the Sabbath-day. 

He called to the man with the withered 
hand, and said, " Stand up, so that all may 
be able to see you." 

The man stood up. Jesus turned to the 
fault-finders, and said, " I want .to ask you 
a question : is it right to do good on the 
Sabbath-days, or to do evil ? to save life or 
to kill?" 

Jesus meant them to feel that if anyone 
can do good and will not, then he does 
evil by refusing to do the good. He could 
cure this poor man, then He ought to do so, 
for it was a duty to save life, even on a Sab- 
bath-day. 

Jesus further said, " Suppose one of you 
had a sheep which fell into a pit on a Sab- 
bath-day, would you leave the poor sheep 
in the deep hole till the next day because 



SOME SABBATH-DAT CURES. 95 

you would not break the Sabbath ? You 
know you would not. Is not a man better 
than a sheep ? Why, then, should this poor 
man go on suffering pain till to-morrow, 
when I can make him well to-day ?" 

Jesus looked all round, to see if anyone 
had anything to answer. All were silent. 

Then he turned to the man and said, 
tc Stretch out your hand." The man obeyed 
the command : the hand was cured. 

The Pharisees were not glad to see the 
man made well. No, they were mad with 
anger, and said, " We will kill this Sabbath- 
breaker." 

Again, on another Sabbath, while Christ 
was teaching in the synagogue, He saw 
among His hearers a poor woman. Her 
back was bent down, and she could in no 
wise lift herself up. 

For eighteen long, weary years had this 
poor woman gone about bowed down un- 
der this affliction. The compassionate eye 
of Jesus saw her. He said, "Woman, 
come to me:" she came, glad to be called 
by the Healer. He laid His hands on her, 
and said, u Woman, you shall be cured." 
As soon as the words were spoken her back 



96 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

was made straight, and she could walk up- 
right, and she thanked God. 

The ruler of the synagogue did not dare 
to blame Jesus before all the people, so he 
turned to them and said, u Why do you 
come on the Sabbath-day to be healed? 
There are six days in the week besides; 
in them men ought to work, and in them 
come and be healed." 

The Lord turned to the ruler, and said, 
u You false man : you know that every one 
of you will take care of his ox or his ass, 
and loose them from their stalls and take 
them to the watering-place, even on a 
Sabbath-day. Why should I not, even on 

Sabbath-day, loose this poor woman from 
her burden, under which she has been bow- 
ed down for eighteen years ?" 

When Jesus had said these things, His 
enemies felt ashamed that He should have 
reproved them before all the people, but 
others rejoiced at the glorious things that 
were done by Him. 

At another time, a Pharisee asked Jesus 
to come to his house, to eat a meal with 
him one Sabbath-day. He did not ask Him 
out of friendship, only to spy His conduct. 



FEEDING FIVE THOUSAND MEN. 97 

He had caused a man all swollen with 
dropsy to be there too; so this Pharisee 
and his friends watched Jesus to see if He 
would heal him. The Saviour did heal the 
man, and He asked the Pharisees if it was 
not right to cure on the Sabbath-day? 
They made no answer, and Jesus knew that 
it was of no use to try to teach them what 
was right, if they were determined not to 
learn. 



22. iiw Mm ** M*w itt&tm i\u 

Mark vi., 30-44. John vi., 1-14. 

ONE day Jesus went to a desert place 
with His disciples, for He wanted to 
be alone with them, that He might teach 
them quietly. 

A groett many people saw them go, and 
followed after them. When Jesus saw the 
crowds coming to Him, He was not angry 
at being disturbed. He felt pity for them, 
they seemed to Him to be like sheep with- 

9 



98 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

out a shepherd. He began to teach them 
many things, and to heal those that had 
need of healing. 

We do not know exactly what it was 
that Jesus taught that day, but the large 
multitude never wearied of listening to 
Him. We know that He spoke to them 
of God's kingdom, and often talked in par- 
ables. 

It may be that He said, "the kingdom 
of God is like treasure hidden in a field." 
One day a man found this treasure : he 
said nothing to any one about what he had 
found, but sold all that he had, so that he 
might have money enough to buy the field, 
and then the treasure would be his own. 

Jesus meant that he who would share in 
God's kingdom, must be willing to give up 
everything for it ; wealth, the good opinion 
of others, ease, self-pleasing ; every thing, 
in fact, that would prevent his having that 
greatest good — treasure in Heaven. If 
necessary, all these should be giv^p. up for 
that. 

Perhaps He told them the story of the 
beautiful pearl. How a man who bought 
and sold pearls, went to the countries and 



FEEDING FIVE THOUSAND MEN. 99 

markets where they wore to be found, 
seeking for some which should be pure, 
and large, and precious. 

One day he saw a pearl so large and cost- 
ly, that it was fit to be placed in the crown 
of a king. This pearl was worth so much, 
that he was obliged to sell all that he had, 
before he was able to buy it. When he 
had bought it, he felt now that he was rich 
indeed. 

Jesus meant, " Some of you are going 
about, seeking for the pearl of happiness. 
Some of you seek it in riches, but you will 
not find it there ; some of you seek it in 
learning, but you will not find it there ; 
some of you seek it in pleasure, but you 
will not find it there ; and some of you 
seek happiness in always trying to have 
your own way, and in pleasing yourselves, 
but you will only find unhappiness there. 

" The pearl of true happiness is only to 
be found b}^ believing in Me, and learning 
of Me, and obeying My voice. 

" You must be willing to give up every- 
thing for Me, as the pearl-merchant was 
willing to give up all that he had so that 
he might be able to buy that lovely pearl. 



LofC. 



100 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

"All who seek thus to enter into the 
kingdom of God will be sure to find, what 
is far better than a costly pearl — rest and 
joy. None ever seek in vain, all are satis- 
fied." 

Perhaps Jesus said, " Some of you are 
poor, I see, and sometimes you feel afraid 
that you will not always have food and 
clothing enough." Do not be fearful, have 
trust in God. Look at the fowls of the 
air ; they do not sow seed for food, they do 
not reap, nor store up their food in barns, 
yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. It 
is your Father who feeds them. Did you 
ever know a father on earth feed his fowls, 
and starve his children ? 

"You know that you never did. You 
may be quite sure, then, that the Heavenly 
Father is not less kind than an earthly one. 

" Think of the beautiful lilies, too, how 
they grow up in all their loveliness, with 
no care on their part as to how they shall 
grow. They do not spin their white robes, 
which are more beautiful and glorious than 
all the grandeur of your grandest king. 
Even Solomon had no robes like theirs. 
But they take no thought for their cloth- 



FEEDING FIVE THOUSAND MEN. 101 

ing ; God takes care for them, though they 
are only flowers. You may be quite sure, 
then, that your Father will not let you want 
for proper clothing, if He thus clothes the 
flowers of the field. 

" Be more careful to enter the kingdom 
of God than to enjoy any earthly good. 
Your Father knows what you need, and 
He will not forget you." 

Such things as these, and many others, 
did Jesus say to the multitude, as they 
stood or sat around Him in that desert 
place. 

All wondered at His gracious words, all 
said, " Never man spake like this man." 

The day was far spent, and still they 
crowded round to listen to the Heavenly 
Teacher. 

Then some of the twelve disciples said, 
" Will you not tell the multitude to go 
home now: the day is nearly gone, and 
this is a desert place ? Send them into the 
towns and villages round about, so that 
they may buy themselves food, for they 
have nothing to eat. 

Jesus, said, u Do you give them some 
food, then." 

9* 



102 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

They replied, u We have only a little 
food ourselves — five small barley loaves, 
and two fishes." (These loaves were only 
as large as a good sized biscuit.) 

The disciples thought that it was no use 
to offer theoi to the vast crowds around 
them. The master said, make all the peo- 
ple sit down upon the grass. Then they 
sat down by hundreds and by fifties. 

Jesus took the loaves, and when He had 
given thanks, He broke them into pieces, 
and sent His disciples round to the people 
with the loaves and the fishes which He 
had divided. 

I cannot tell you how it was that the 
loaves and fishes were enough for all that 
were there, but Jesus made enough for all. 

Every man, woman, and child was satis- 
fied. 

Jesus said, u Do not let the pieces that 
are over be wasted ; go round and pick 
them up and put them into baskets." 

How many people do you think there 
were to eat of these five loaves and two 
fishes ? 

There were five thousand men, beside 
women and children. I dare say one hun- 



FEEDING FIVE THOUSAND MEN. 103 

gry man could have eaten those five little 
loaves and two small fishes, but Jesus made 
them enough for five thousand men. Be- 
side that, when the disciples had gathered 
together all the pieces, there was so much 
left that they filled twelve baskets with 
them. So you see there was more at the 
end of the meal than there was at the be- 
ginning. 

But though Jesus thus could create, or 
make something out of nothing, as only 
God can, yet He would not allow waste. 
He did not say, " Never mind the broken 
pieces, I can always create more." No, 
He said, " Take care of the pieces, so that 
nothing be lost." 

Some children, and, I am very sorry to 
say, grown-up people too, are very wasteful. 
Though they cannot create one crumb, 
yet they waste a great many. We. must 
learn to be like Jesus in all things. If we 
do not want the broken pieces, there are 
many poor people who do, so that we should 
take care of them for their sakes. It is bet- 
ter to give away than to waste, and " bless- 
ed is he that considereth the poor." 



23. aft* Mm at M$t f & fttmstlyxm- 
ttt». 

Matt, xvii., 1-13. Luke ix., 28-36. 

YOU know that Jesus lived on earth as 
a poor man. Many people thought 
that He really was only a poor man ; and 
when He told them that He was the Son of 
God, they would not believe Him. 

They might have known by the wonders 
that He did, and by His teaching, that He 
was more than a mere man, but they only 
judged of Him by what He seemed to be. 

Once, however, His three favorite disci- 
ples saw Him look quite differently from 
His usual appearance. 

One day He took Peter, James, and John 
to the top of a high mountain, where they 
were quite alone. He went there to pray, 
and as He prayed He was changed before 
them. 

His face did shine as the sun, and His 
clothes were like robes of light. So ex- 
ceeding white were they, that the disciples 



Christ's transfiguration. 105 

knew that their splendor was not of earth, 
but of heaven. 

Two men then came from heaven to 
speak to Him. They were Moses and Elijah. 

Moses, who, you remember, was the 
giver of the Law to the Jews, came to 
speak to Him who was the End of the Law. 
After Christ was offered up upon the cross, 
all the Jewish sacrifices, which only point- 
ed to His death, were to be done away 
with, as no longer needful. Elijah the pro- 
phet, was there to speak to Him, of whose 
coming the prophets had foretold. Now 
their prophecy is ended in fulfillment — 
Christ has come. 

They talked together of the great event 
so soon to happen — the death of Jesus at 
Jerusalem, for the sake of sinful men. 

This death was the wonder of the bright 
angels in Heaven ; they could hardly un- 
derstand it. Now that Moses and Elijah 
have come from heaven, it is that which 
they talk about. Jesus, too, felt deeply the 
need there was for His death, when He 
saw how deeply man had fallen. He 
thought much of it, He talked about it, 
He prayed about it. 






106 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

But how little do we think of the Sav- 
iour's great love, and of our great sins, 
which led to His death! 

At last Moses and Elijah went back to 
heaven. Then a cloud of light came all 
around the disciples, and they were afraid 
as they entered into it. 

Out of the cloud came a voice, and they 
heard these words: u This is my beloved 
Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye 
Him!" 

Moses and Elijah are gone ; they taught 
of a Messiah to come. He is come, He is 
Jesus who is my beloved Son, hear and 
obey Him now. 

This was the meaning of that voice. 

When the disciples heard it, they fell 
down on their faces ; they were so afraid, 
that they dare not look upon the glory 
around them. 

Jesus came and touched them : " Do not 
be afraid," He said. They lifted up their 
eyes, they saw no one there but Jesus. 
Moses and Elijah was gone, the bright 
cloud had passed away, the voice spoke no 
more. 

Jesus said, u You have seen My glory, 



THE DISCIPLES 7 STRIFE. 107 

but do not tell any one what you have 
seen, until I am risen from the dead." 



MM ft* Wvmttti. 

Matt, xviii., 1-5. Mark ix., 33-37. Luke ix., 
46-48. 

SOMETIMES Jesus sent out His disciples 
into the villages, to teach other peo- 
ple what he had before taught them. Once 
when they were returning to Capernaum 
after one of these journeys, they began 
talking together, and at last their words 
were sharp and hasty; they disputed 
among themselves. 

What do you think it was that they 
quarrelled about ? It was about which of 
them was best, who loved Jesus most, who 
worked the hardest to teach others, and 
who should have the first place in the king- 
dom of God. 

When they came to Capernaum, they 
went to the house where Jesus was. 



108 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Jesus looked tip to them and said, 
" What was it that you were quarrelling 
about as you walked along ?" They were 
all so ashamed of themselves that they 
could not give Him any answer. Besides, 
they knew that if he could tell that they 
had been disputing, he could also tell what 
it was about. 

I dare say that neither of them thought 
that he was the best, and that not one of 
them was so meek and lowly as the disci- 
ples of so good a Master should be. 

Jesus called to a little boy who was near, 
to come to Him. 

He put him into the midst of the disci- 
ples, and said, " This child is the least of 
you all, he knows the least, he thinks you 
are better than he is. Be like this little 
child among yourselves ; be humble, think 
but little of yourselves, and much of the 
good of others. Be meek and lowly, and 
do not care for grandeur. Great things 
and little things done for Me are of the 
same worth, if both are done out of love 
to Me. All you do is worth only the love 
that leads you to do it." 

Children, do you ever quarrel to be first ? 






THE MAN WHO WAS BORN RLIND. 109 

Do yon ever think that you deserve the 
best things ? Are yon unwilling to give up 
your will to please others? Do you ever 
say sharp, hasty, proud words ? 

Remember that Jesus hears you, and is 
grieved to see such selfish conduct. 

If you want to share His kingdom, you 
must obey His laws of love. 

If you would like to be His little child- 
ren, you must learn of Him to be meek 
and lowly in heart, and loving hearts will 
do loving actions. 



25. Mt $tmj ai tltje fjtotn wU WW Uxn 
§tM. 

John ix., 1-41. 

ONE Sabbath-day, as Jesus was leaving 
the temple at Jerusalem with his dis- 
ciples, they saw, in passing along, a man 
begging, who had been blind from his birth. 
The disciples said, "Master, why is this 
man blind ? Is it as a punishment for his 
own sins, or for the sins of his parents ?" 

10 



110 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Jesus answered, u Do not suppose that 
those people whom you see suffer most pain 
are the most wicked. This man is not blind 
for any sin of his own, nor for any sin of 
his parents, but that the power of God may 
be seen by his cure. I will remove his 
blindness ; as long as I am in the world, I 
am the light of the world." 

When He had said these words, He spat 
on the ground and made clay of the spittle, 
and rubbed the eyes of the blind man with 
the clay, and said, " Xow go and wash your- 
self in the pool of Siloaru." 

The man went to the pool, and he came 
back seeing. 

This blind beggar was well-known ; 
many had seen him as he sat daily by the 
side of the road asking for charity. 

The neighbors were astonished, and 
said, u Is not this he who sat by the way- 
side begging ?" 

Some said, "Yes, it is the same man." 

Others, "It is not he, but one like him." 

The blind man said, "I am the very 
man; I once was blind." 

They asked, u How is it that your eyes 
are opened?" 






THE MAN WHO WAS BORN BLIND. Ill 

He answered, " A man named Jesus put 
some clay upon my eyes, and told me to go 
and wash in the pool of Siloam. I went 
and washed, as He bade me, and then my 
eyes were opened, so that I could see." 

They said, " Where is this man Jesus ?" 

He answered, "I do not know where he 
is gone." 

Then they took the blind man to the 
Pharisees, and they asked him how it was 
that his eyes were opened. 

He told them, as he had before told his 
neighbors, that Jesus had cured him. 

u Oh !" said some of the Pharisees, " this 
Jesus is not a good man, for He has broken 
the Sabbath-day by curing you." 

Others said, " He must be a good man, 
for God would not give a wicked man the 
power to do such a wonderful work as this." 

So they could not agree among them- 
selves about Jesus. They turned to the 
blind man and asked, " What do you think 
of Him ? -He opened your eyes, you ought 
to be able to tell whether He is a good 
man or not." 

He answered, " He is a prophet, a man 
of God." 



112 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

The Jews then said, " Surely there must 
be some mistake ; you were not really blind 
before, you only pretended to be so." 

Then they called the man's parents, and 
asked them, " Is this your son? You say 
he was born blind: how is it then that he 
can now see ?" 

The parents answered, " This man is our 
son, and he was born blind ; but how it is 
that he can see now, we do not know. He 
is grown up, and quite able to answer any 
questions himself that you may wish an- 
swered. You had better ask him how it 
is that his eyes are opened." 

When they heard what the parents said, 
and how it was quite true that the man was 
born blind, they called him to them again. 
They said, " Give God the praise of your 
cure, for we know that this Jesus is a 
sinner." 

The man answered, " Whether what you 
say is true or not, of one thing I am quite 
sure, that He has cured me. I was blind, 
but now I see." 

Again they asked, " What did He do to 
you ? How did He open your eyes ?" 

The man replied, " I have told you once 



THE MAN WHO WAS BORN BLIND. 113 

already, but you would not believe me. 
Why do you wish me to tell you again ? 
Is it because you wish to become His dis- 
ciples?" 

Then they were very angry, and said 
sharp unkind things to the poor man. 
" You are the disciple of that false teacher ! 
You are the disciple of that Sabbath-break- 
er! But we follow the teaching of the 
true prophet, Moses, who was sent of God 
to teach us His will. As to this fellow 
Jesus, we do not know where He comes 
from!" The man said, u How strange this 
is: you Pharisees, who pretend to be so 
wise, and learned, and good, can you not 
tell a false teacher from a, true one, or 
know good from evil ? Has not this Jesus 
opened my eyes, although I have been 
blind all my life before, as my parents have 
told you, and as every one in the town 
knows ? 

"No one could do this unless God gave 
him the power, and God does not give such 
power to wicked men. So wonderful a 
cure as mine was never heard of before, 
and if Jesus was not sent by God He could 
not have done it." 

10* 



114 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

The Pharisees were now still more angry, 
and said, "You wicked, ignorant man! 
how dare you pretend to teach us, who are 
so much wiser and better than you are ?" 

Then they drove him away from them, 
turned him out of the synagogue, and said 
they would not let him worship with them 
any more, for he was not fit to be a mem- 
ber of the Jewish church. 

Jesus heard how badly the Pharisees had 
treated the man whom He had cured. 

With great love and tenderness, He 
found out where he was. When He had 
found him He said, " Do you believe in the 
Son of God?" 

The man had not seen Jesus before, for 
He had left him when He sent him to the 
pool to wash. He came back seeing, but 
the Saviour was gone away. This, there- 
fore, was the first time that the man saw 
Him, who had restored his sight. 

In answer to the question of Jesus, he 
said, "Lord, who is the Son of God, that 
I might believe in Him ?" 

Jesus said, " You see Him now, it is He 
who is talking to you. 7 ' 

Then the man knew that it was the same 



THE MAN WHO WAS BORN BLIND. 115 

person who had cured him, he said, " Lord, 
I believe," and he worshipped Him. 

Jesus first of all gave sight to the eyes 
of his body, then He opened the eyes of 
this man's mind, so that he might see in 
Him the Saviour. 

The Pharisees, though they could see 
Jesus with the eyes of their bodies, would 
not own that He was the Saviour, the Son 
of God. 

They pretended to be wise, so they did 
not like His telling them, that if they did 
not know Him they were ignorant. They 
did not like His reproving them for their 
faults ; they would not see that they had 
any, therefore they were willingly blind. 

Are you like the Pharisees ? Are you 
blind to your sins? Are you blind to 
your Saviour? 

Jesus says, "I am the light of the 
world; he that followeth Me shall not 
walk in darkness, but shall have the light 
of life." 



26. m* $tot$ Of tftt (&0fift Mt0XM&. 

John x., 1-16. 

JESUS said, " I am the Good Shepherd." 
You know that a shepherd is a man 
who takes care of sheep. 

Many of the good men that we read of 
in the Bible were shepherds. Jacob and 
his sons were shepherds. David was a 
shepherd before he became a king, and 
many others that we read of were shep- 
herds too. 

In Eastern countries, shepherds are very 
fond of their sheep. They lead them into 
sweet pastures by day, and at night, should 
any wild beast come near the flock, they 
will hasten to save the sheep, even at the 
risk of their own lives. 

When af lamb is tired or ill, they will 
not let it walk, but put it into the folds of 
their loose dress, and carry it in their bo- 
som. They gently lead their flocks, for it 
would not do to drive them fast under the 
burning sun of those Eastern lands. 



THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 117 

When a silly sheep or lamb strays away 
from the fold, how carfully does the shep- 
herd look over the mountain slopes and 
behind the rocks and bushes to find the 
wanderer. 

When it is found, how greatly does he 
rejoice over the lost sheep ! 

The shepherd goes before his sheep, and 
they follow him. He does not drive his 
sheep, as shepherds do in England. They 
know his voice, and he calls them by their 
names. 

A few years ago, an English gentleman 
was travelling in Judea, and he was watch- 
ing one of these shepherds as he tended 
his flock. He saw that the shepherd often 
plucked some grass and called one or other 
of the sheep to him. He went up to him 
and said, " The sheep come when you call 
them, but I suppose they would come to 
any one dressed as you are." The shepherd 
said, " Will you try, sir?" So the gentle- 
man and the shepherd changed clothes. 

The gentleman, dressed as the shepherd, 
plucked a handful of grass, and called a 
sheep, but it would not come ; it did not 
know the stranger's voice. 



118 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

The shepherd who was dressed as the 
Englishman then called a sheep, and it came 
directly, even though he had no food to 
offer it. 

" There ! see, sir/' the shepherd said, " it 
is my voice they know, no matter how I am 
dressed." A stranger they will not follow. 

Jesus is like the good shepherd of whom 
I have been telling you. .< - 

Grown up people are the sheep, and 
children are the lambs of the fold. 

The good shepherd will seek after the 
sheep that has wandered; Jesus came to 
seek and to save those who have gone 
astray from God, and are lost in the ways 
of sin. 

The good shepherd will risk his life to 
save his sheep. Jesus has laid down His 
life for the sake of His sheep. 

The good shepherd feeds his flocks with 
sweet pasture ; Jesus feeds His people with 
truth for the soul. He puts good thoughts 
into their hearts. He gives them the Holy 
Spirit. 

Are you one of the lambs of Christ's 
flock? ' 

The sheep obey the shepherd's voice, 



JESUS AND THE CHILDREN. 119 

they come when he calls them, they go 
where he leads them. 

Do you follow Jesus ? Do you obey His 
voice ? 

When you want to go in the path of! 
your own sinful will, do you stop and say, 
"No, the good Shepherd does not lead me 
here, I will go in the way that He leads ?" 

He leads/rom all selfishness, pride, anger, 
deceit, envy, and every sin. 

He leads to gentleness, meekness, truth- 
fulness, love, and all goodness. 



27. mt Mm *t Iwmu »«* tte (SiMUxm. 

Matt. xix. ? 13-17. Mark x., 13-16. Luke xiii., 
15-17. 

IN one of the towns beyond the river Jor- 
dan, some people might be seen talking 
earnestly together. Jesus of Nazareth was 
come into their town, and all day He had 
been teaching them and healing their sick. 
It was about Him they spoke. 

" Surely," said one, " He must be Israel's 



120 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

promised Saviour." " Yes," said another, 
u no prophet has ever yet done such won- 
derful works as we see Him do." " And 
how strange are His teachings, how full of 
love His words ! and He heals the sick so 
tenderly!" said a third. 

" He is greater than our father Abraham," 
said a young Hebrew mother: "how I 
should like His blessing on my child!" 
She looked fondly on her baby as it lay 
asleep in her bosom — it was her first-born 
son. 

" Let us take our children to Him," said 
the parents of the group, " and ask Him to 
put His hands on them and bless them." 

The parents took their little ones, and 
went to the place where Jesus was sitting 
with His disciples. 

u What are these children coming here 
for?" said Peter, James, and John. " Take 
them away : the Master cannot be troubled 
with young children. They are not sick, 
they do not want healing ; you cannot 
bring them here." 

But Jesus said, " Come back." 

He turned to His disciples and said, "I 
am very much displeased with you : why 



JESUS AND THE CHILDREN. 121 

do you send them away ? It is true they 
have not come for healing, but they want a 
blessing. Let the little ones come unto Me, 
and forbid them not, for of such is the king- 
dom of Heaven." 

So the children came near to the gentle 
Jesus, and He took the babies in His arms, 
and puV the little ones on his knee, and 
placed His hands on the heads of the oth- 
ers, and gave them His blessing. 

Oh, how happy were those parents as they 
went to their homes, saying, u We knew 
he would notice the children. He seemed 
pleased to have them brought to Him." 

Can you not fancy how one of the big- 
ger children said, as she laid her head on 
her pillow that night, " Mother, I shall nev- 
er forget the kind look of that prophet of 
Nazareth as long as I live. Is God as kind 
as He?" " They say, my daughter, that He 
says He is the Son of God. One of His 
strange sayings is 'that He has come to 
show us the Father.' " 

" Oh, mother, all He says must be true," 
said little Ruth. 

u Yes, he calls Himself c the Truth,'" 
said the mother, thoughtfully. " Now go 

n 



122 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

to sleep, little Ruth, and dream of this 
wonderful Stranger." 

Little Ruth went to sleep, and in her 
dreams she saw again the 'kind face, and 
heard again the gentle tones whispering in 
her ear. " Let the little ones come unto 
Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the 
kingdom of Heaven." It seemed to little 
Ruth as if she was in Heaven. 

I think I hear a little voice saying, in the 
words of the hymn that all children know, 

" I wish that His hand had been placed on my head, 
That His arm had been thrown around me, 
And that I might have seen His kind look when He said, 
'Let the little ones come unto Me.' " 

"I wish my parents could take me to 
Jesus. Where is Jesus ?" " Up in Heaven," 
you say, u a long way of." 

Yes, He is in Heaven, but He is near us 
too. We have only to speak to Him and 
'He is close by us, though we cannot see 
Him. 

And your parents speak to Jesus about 
you, and ask Him to bless you. Every 
time they pray for you they bring you to 
Jesus. 

Yon can go to Jesus yourself by prayer, 



THE RICH RULER. 123 

and say, " Jesus, give me a blessing, even 
as thou didst on earth, long ago, bless little 
children." And if you really pray, you 
will feel His love coming into your heart, 
and then you will know that you have His 
blessing. 



28. Sb* Mm at mt ikft f tte 

Matt. xix. ; 16-30. 

AMONG the many people who came to 
Jesus was a rich young man, and he 
was a ruler of the synagogue. He seemed 
to be very much in earnest, for he came 
running to the Saviour. He looked upon 
Him as worthy of great respect, for he 
knelt before Him as he spoke to Him. He 
came to ask the most important of all ques- 
tions that any one can ask : " Good Master, 
what shall I do, that I may have eternal 
life ?" He had wealth, he had position, he 
had the good opinion of others, but he felt 
that he had not eternal life. The good 
things of this life could not make him hap- 



124 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES 

py ; lie wanted a better life than they could 
give, so he came to ask Jesus how he should 
obtain it. 

Jesus said, "If you wish for a life of 
endless happiness, keep the Command- 
ments." 

" Which?" asked he. 

" You know them," replied the Saviour ; 
44 do not kill, do not steal, do not say un- 
kind and untrue things of others, obey and 
honor your father and your mother, and 
love your neighbor as yourself." 

44 Master, I have kept these laws from my 
youth until now ; what more need I do ?" 
Jesus looked at him as he asked this ques- 
tion ; and as He looked He loved him. 

He saw before Him a kind-hearted man, 
one of those whose outward conduct was 
without fault. But the Saviour looked in- 
to his heart, and saw that all this outward 
goodness did not spring from love to God. 
Something there was loved more than God : 
that something was his riches. He cared 
more for his treasure on earth, than for 
treasure in Heaven. 

Jesus said, 44 If you wish for eternal life 
above every thing else, then go and sell all 



THE RICH RULER. 125 

that you have, and give away your money 
to the poor ; you shall then have treasure 
in Heaven: and come and follow Me." 

These words of Jesus fell sadly on the 
ear of the rich ruler : he could not do this 
one thing that Jesus asked him. Part of 
his riches he might have been willing to 
have given up ; but all — no, the sacrifice 
was too great, even if eternal life was the 
reward. He had come to Jesus gladly, but 
he turned away from Him with sorrow, for 
he could not follow Him and give up his 
possessions. 

When he was gone, Jesus looked round 
about on His disciples, and said, "How 
hard is it for a rich man to enter into the 
kingdom of Heaven." 

"How is it so difficult?" asked the dis- 
ciples. 

"Because," said the Master, "he who 
would follow Me into eternal life, must be 
willing to give up all for Me. 

" Rich people think a great deal about 
their houses, and lands, and money, and 
rank, and it is so hard to give up what is 
so highly valued on earth, for treasure in 
Heaven." 

H* 



126 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

It is not always that Christ commands 
the rich to sell their goods and give away 
the money to the poor, but every rich man 
should be willing to do so for God's sake. 

Where this rich ruler was wrong was, 
that he cared more for his money, his rank, 
and his ease, than to please God. He 
thought that he was very good, but Jesus 
showed him that his heart was sinful, even 
if his outward conduct was good. God 
was not chief and first with him. If he 
had been kind and good to his neighbor, 
and so kept part of the Commandments, he 
had not kept the first part, which, is to love 
God with all the heart, and soul, and 
strength. He loved himself best. 

What is it that you care for most? Is 
it to have your own way, and to please 
yourself? 

Then, whether you are rich or poor, you 
are as bad as this rich ruler, for you are 
not willing to give up your all for God's 
sake. If you will not do this, Jesus says, 
"you cannot be My disciple." 






3 



29. want Mm «* Wm& »«# pjwtto, 

Luke x., 38-42. John xi., 1-46. 

ABOUT a mile and a half from the 
city of Jerusalem, at the bottom of 
the Mount of Olives, was tlie village of 
Bethany. 

In one of the houses there, lived a broth- 
er and two sisters. Their names were Laz- 
arus, Mary, and Martha. They all three 
loved Jesus dearly, and He loved them, too, 
very much. 

He would often go to see them while He 
was staying at Jerusalem, for it was a pleas- 
ant walk to Bethany from that city. 

Martha was the mistress of the house. 
She liked to show her love to Jesus by be- 
ing very busy and making Him nice things 
to eat. Mary liked best to sit at the feet 
of Jesus and to hear Him talk. Martha 
was once vexed with Marji because she did 
not come and help her, and she said to 



128 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Jesus, " Lord, bid my sister come and help 



me." 



Jesus said, " Martha, you need not take 
so much trouble on My account ; I do not 
need so much, one dish will do. Mary is 
wise to listen to the good things which I 
talk about : you had better choose the same 
good part too." 

So Jesus, instead of sending Mary away 
to help Martha get Him a feast, told Martha 
to sit by Mary's side and have a feast from 
Him of things good for the soul. 

One day, how long after this I cannot tell, 
Lazarus was taken very ill. He became 
worse and worse. The sisters said, " Let 
us send to our dear Friend Jesus, and tell 
Him." Jesus was then in Peraea, about a 
day's journey from Bethany. 

This was the message that they sent: 
"Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick." 

Jesus told the man who brought the 
message, to tell Martha and Mary that "this 
sickness would not end in the death of Laz- 



arus." 



This message comforted the sisters : they 
thought, a He wijl surely come Himself and 
heal him." 



MARY, AND MARTHA, AND LAZARUS. 129 

But Jesus stayed on in the place where 
He was teaching the people when the mes- 
sage came. 

Oh, what a weary time that was at Beth- 
any at the house of Lazarus ! He died on 
the evening of the very day that the mes- 
senger returned from Jesus. 

The next day the sisters said to one 
another, " Surely our dear Friend will come 
to-day;" but the shades of evening closed 
over Bethany, and Jesus had not come. 

In those hot countries people are obliged 
to bury their friends in a very short time 
after death. So Mary and Martha had to 
bury their brother before Jesus came. 

All the next day they waited, but they 
waited in vain. He seemed to have broken 
His promise : He had always been faithful 
and true before, but now He seemed false. 
He said the sickness would not end in 
death — but Lazarus was dead. 

At last they sent again to Jesus to tell 
Him that Lazarus was dead. 

Jesus then said to His disciples, " Let us 
go to Bethany, our friend Lazarus sleeps : 
I will go and awake him." 

They said, " Lord, if he rests he will get 



idO NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

better." But Jesus spoke of the sleep of 
death, while they .thought that He spoke of 
the rest of sleep. So Jesus told them 
plainly tflkt " Lazarus was dead. " 

When Jesus was near Bethany, Martha 
heard that He was coming, and she went 
to meet Him. 

The very sight of Him brought her a lit- 
tle hope. 

She said, " Lord, if you had but come 
before, my brother would not have died ; 
but even now I know that God will do 
whatevqr you ask Him." 

Jesus knew what she was hoping for, and 
said, " Your brother shall rise again." 

Martha said, " Yes, Lord, I know he will 
rise again at the last day." She hardly 
liked to say, " But will he rise again now." 

Jesus said, u It is from Me that all life 
comes : the souls of those that believe in 
Me shall never die, and, even if their bod- 
ies are dead, I can make them live again 
now, as well as at the resurrection-day, 
when all dead bodies will rise from the 
grave. Do you believe this ?" 

She said, " Yes, Lord, I believe You are 
the Son of God, and can do all things." 



MARY, AND MARTHA, AND LAZARUS. 131 

When she had said so, she went back to 
the house to her sister Mary, and whisper- 
ed in her ear the welcome words, " The 
Master is come, He asks for you." 

Poor Mary was sitting in the house with 
a great many friends, some of whom had 
come from Jerusalem to comfort her and 
her sister in their trouble. She was bro- 
ken-hearted with grief, but at these softly- 
spoken words of Martha's, she felt that He 
who could indeed comfort her was come. 
She rose up hastily, and went out to go to 
the Saviour. 

The Jews who were in the house had 
not heard what Martha had said to Mary, 
and they thought that she was going to 
the grave of Lazarus to weep there. So 
they followed her. 

Jesus had not yet come into the village ; 
He had stayed in the place where Martha 
had left him. 

When Mary saw Jesus, she fell down at 
His feet, and could only cry out, "Lord, 
if You had but come my brother would 
not have died." 

She could say no more: her tears fell 
fast. 



132 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Then the Jews that were with her wept 
too : the grief of the sisters was so great. 

The sight of all this sorrow went to the 
heart of the Man Christ Jesus. He sighed 
a deep, bitter sigh. 

" Tell Me where you have buried him." 

They said, " Lord, come with us and we 
will show You." 

So they walked to the grave, and Jesus 
wept. He loved Martha, and Mary, and 
Lazarus, and His tender heart could not bear 
to see this dreadful grief, and not to share it. 

Some of the Jews, when they saw His 
tears, said, "He must have loved Lazarus 
very much." 

Others, w T ho were not very kind, said, 
"If He can make blind people see, He 
could have made the sick man well ; so if 
He had loved him He would not have let 
him die at all." 

At last they came to the tomb ; it was a 
cave. A great stone lay against the open* 
ing, so as to shut it up close. 

When Jesus saw the grave of His friend, 
He again gave a deep sigh. 

He said to the people round him, " Take 
away that stone." 



MARY, AND MARTHA, AND LAZARUS. 133 

Martha said, "Lord, he has been dead 
four days, so by this time his body has be- 
gun to decay away and smell badly." 

Jesus said, "Did I not tell you, that if 
you believed you should see the wonderful 
power of God ?" 

Then they took away the stone from the 
grave, and Jesus looked in and saw the 
body of Lazarus lying dead. 

Jesus prayed to His Father in Heaven ; 
He said, " Father, I thank Thee that Thou 
hast heard Me, and I know that Thou hear- 
est Me always ; but for the sake of the 
crowd that stand by I speak, that they may 
believe that Thou hast sent Me." 

When Jesus had finished, all the people 
stood by, wondering what He would do 
next; and Martha and Mary hoped He 
would make Lazarus alive again. 

Then Jesus cried with a loud voice, 
"Lazarus, come forth." 

The dead man heard the voice of Him 
who is "the Resurrection and the life." 
The grave cannot hold the dead against 
the command of the Prince of Life ; for 
Life is stronger than Death. 



12 




134 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Lazarus came forth, bound hand and foot 
with grave clothes wrapped around him. 

Jesus said, " Loosen the clothes, and 
take the cloth from his face, and let him 
go home." 

Oh ! how pleased Martha aud Mary must 
have been to have the brother they loved 
so dearly back again. 

Yes, Jesus had not disappointed them. 
He had kept His word : the sickness did 
not end in death, for Lazarus was alive 
and well. 

Every one who saw this miracle was 
astonished, and many believed that Jesus 
was the Son of God ; but some of the ill- 
natured ones went to the Pharisees, who 
were the enemies of Jesus, and told them 
of this new and greatest wonder that 
Jesus had done. What came of their tell- 
ing these things to the Pharisees you shall 
hear in the next story. 




30. Mt $toxy at wftat %tm M Mux i\u 
facing of Ifamss- 

Luke xviii., 31-43. Luke xix., 1-10. John xi., 
47-57. 

I TOLD you that when Lazarus was rais- 
ed from the dead, some Jews went to 
the Pharisees at Jerusalem, and told them, 
that this wonder of bringing a man back to 
life, after he had been dead four days, had 
led many to believe on Jesus as the Son of 
God. 

The Chief Priests, and Scribes, and 
Pharisees, then held a meeting or council 
together, to talk over what they should do 
to Jesus. They said, " We must not let 
Him go on working wonders, or else ev- 
ery one will think He is the Saviour, and 
will come and make Him king ; then the 
Romans will be angry, and fight us, and 
kill us all." 

The High Priest Caiaphas said, " It is at 
any rate better that one should die for all, 
than that all the nation should perish." 






i 



136 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

" Yes," they said, u we must try to seize 
Jesus, and when we have taken Him, we 
will find some excuse or other for having 
Him put to death." 

They then said that if anybody knew 
where Jesus was, he must come and tell 
them, that they might take Hi n. 

The feast of the Passover would soon be 
held at Jerusalem, and as the Jews from all 
parts of the country came to it, so they 
hoped to catch Him then. They looked 
for Jesus everywhere, but they could not 
find Him. " Do you think He will come 
to the feast? Do you think He will be 
afraid and stay away ?" 

These were the questions that they asked 
one another, as they met in the temple and 
in the streets of Jerusalem. 

Where do you think Jesus went after He 
raised Lazarus from the grave ? He did not 
stay at Bethany, for that was too close to Je- 
rusalem. He w r ent to Ephraim, which was 
a very quiet village in the desert of Judea 
and several miles north of Jerusalem. 
There He was not known, and there for a 
short time He could talk with His disciples 
undisturbed. 






AFTER THE RAISING OF LAZARUS. 137 

He wanted to prepare them for His death, 
which was so soon to take place at Jeru- 
salem. 

He said, u The Chief Priests, and Scribes, 
and Pharisees will take Me, and they will 
say I must die. They will then give Me 
up to the Romans, who will put Me to 
death. They will laugh at Me, and mock 
Me, and spit on Me, and whip Me, and at 
last they will kill Me ; but I shall rise from 
My grave after I have been dead a day 
and two nights." 

The disciples did not like to hear of all 
these sad troubles happening to their Mas- 
ter. They were very much astonished that 
He should talk so, and they were fright- 
ened. 

They did not understand how it could 
be ; but Jesus told them that if they 
would but look at what their own prophets 
had written in their Scriptures, they would 
see that the Saviour would have to suffer 
and die. However, they did not yet under- 
stand. After all these things had taken 
place, then they understood. 

Jesus could not stay long at Ephraim. 

He went from thence to Jericho, which 
12* 



138 



NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 



place was about six hours' walk from Jeru- 
salem. At this place He could meet the 
people who were coming from His own 
country Galilee, as they, too, were on their 
way to the feast at Jerusalem. 

Just as Jesus came to Jericho, He met 
a large travelling party from Galilee. The 
people knew Him at once, and remember- 
ed all the mighty works He had done while 
He lived among them. They began to 
praise Him and honor Him as He joined 
their company. 

When they came to the gate of the town, 
they saw a poor blind man named Bartim- 
eus sitting there, and begging of all those 
who came in and out of the town. 

Bartimeus heard the noise, as it were of 
a great crowd coming along the road. 

" What is the meaning of all the noise I 
hear ?" he asked of some one near him. 

" Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, is 
coming along this way, and a great many 
people are with Him, crying after Him." 

The poor blind man thought, "Jesus 
of Narareth ! Why He is the very person 
I wanted to meet ; they say he cures blind 
people, I hope He will cure me." 



AFTER THE RAISING OF LAZARUS. 139 

So he cried very loudly, "Jesus, thou 
son of David, have mercy on me." 

"Hush," said the people, "don't make 
such a noise, you will disturb the Saviour ; 
it is not likely that He will stop this pro- 
cession, just to attend to a poor blind beg- 
gar like you. 

" But I want to be cured of my blind- 
ness, and now is the time." So he cried 
yet louder, "Jesus, have pity on me." 

Then Jesus heard this cry of distress, 
and He stood still. " Bring that poor man 
to Me, he wants Me to do something for 
him." 

The people knew that He never raised a 
hope to disappoint it, that He never called 
any one to come Him unless He meant to 
help him. They said to the poor man, 
" Be glad, arise and go to Jesus; He calls 
you to. Him." 

Then the blind man, in his haste to go to 
the Saviour, threw down his cloak and 
went. 

Jesus said, " What is it that you want Me 
to do for you ?" 

" Lord, that I may have my sight." 

Jesus said, " You shall see, because you 



140 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 






believed I could cure you, I will give you 
your sight." 

Directly Jesus spoke these words, he 
opened his eyes, and he could then see. 

Full of thankfulness, he joined the crowd 
which followed Jesus, shouting His praises . 

Jesus did; not go on to Jerusalem with 
this large travelling party. Just outside 
the town of Jericho lived a man named 
Zaccheus. He was a tax-gatherer and a 
rich man. Hg was short, and as he wanted 
to see Jesus, whom all the people were 
praising, and^of whom he had heard so 
much, he climbed into a sycamore tree. 

Now, he thought, I shall be above the 
people, and I shall get a good sight of the 
procession as it passes along the road. 

Jesus, as He w#nt\by, saw Zaccheus up 
in the tree, so He said to him, " Zaccheus, 
make haste and come down, for I am going 
to stay in your house to-day." " 

Then was Zaccheus very glad indeed. 
He made haste down from the tree, that he 
might take Jesus home with him. 

When the multitude saw this, they were 
very much surprised, and said, "It is a 
strange thing that the Son of God should 



AFTER THE RAISING OF LAZARUS. 141 

go and lodge at the house of a man who 
does not bear a good character." 

The heart of Zaccheus was full of love to 
Him who had so honored him. He show- 
ed his love, by his sorrow for his past sins. 
Perhaps he had not been kind to the poor ; 
now he said he would' give away half his 
money to the poor. Perhaps he had taken 
from people more money than he ought to 
have done for the taxes; so he said, " If I 
have wronged any one, I will give him 
back four times as much as I have wrong- 
fully taken from him." 

Jesus was very glad to see him repent 
of his sins, and begin to do right, and He 
said that he was one of those to whom His 
salvation had come. 

Then He told the multitude who were 
displeased with Him because He went to 
the house of a sinful man, that He came 
into the world on purpose to seek and to 
save that which was lost. The worse a 
man was, the more he needed some one to 
bring him back, like a lost sheep, to the 
fold. 



31. WUt Manj tf §te*jj, of §*tto»j}, 
gwwitttinij lfmt!§* 

John xii., 1-11. 

WHEN Jesus left Jericho, he went to 
Bethany. It was on a Friday that 
He went ; the very next Friday after that? 
He was crucified. 

The Jewish Sabbath, you know, was not 
on our Sunday, but on our Saturday; it 
began after sunset, on Friday, and ended at 
sunset on Saturday. This last Jewish Sab- 
bath before the death of Jesus was spent 
by Him with His friends at Bethany. 

A man named Simon invited Jesus to 
come and eat his Sabbath meal with him. 
Lazarus, whom He had raised from the 
dead, was invited too, and the busy Martha 
waited upon Jesus while He sat at meat. 

Mary was also there. She had brought 
with her a box of very precious ointment 
as a present for Jesus. With this she 
rubbed his feet — those feet which were so 
often tired, as He went about doing good 



MARY ANOINTING JESUS. 143 

and pleasing not Himself; and with the 
hair of her head she lovingly wiped them. 
Very fragrant was the scent of this sweet 
ointment ; as Mary broke the seal of the 
box to pour it out, the whole house was 
filled with its delicious odor. But sweeter 
far to Jesus was the love which led her to 
make this offering. 

It cost nearly ten pounds of our English 
money, but Mary thought nothing was too 
good or too costly for Jesus. She was 
glad to show her love by giving Him the 
very best of what she had. 

Then said one of the disciples, Judas 
Iscariot, "It was very wasteful of you, 
Mary, to spend so much money for such a 
little use ; you had better have sold the 
ointment and given the money to the poor. 

Did Judas care for the poor ? No, he 
kept the bag in which the money for the 
poor was put, and he was a thief, and stole 
some of the money that was in it. He 
thought, "If all the money that the oint- 
ment was worth had been put into the bag, 
I could have taken some for myself without 
its being missed." 

Jesus said to Judas, "Do not blame 



144 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Mary, she has not been wasteful. This 
was a gift of love, and love is not to be 
measured by money. 

"There will always be poor people in 
the world for whom you can care, and you 
can do them good whenever you please. 
You will not have Me with you long, for 
the day of My death is near, and Mary 
knows this." 

As soon as ever the sun had set on this 
Jewish Sabbath evening, numbers of Jews 
cainp from the city of Jerusalem to see 
Jesus and to see Lazarus. These Jews had 
come from all parts of the country, by 
thousands, to eat the feast of the Passover 
at Jerusalem during the coming week. 
They had heard, when they reached Jeru- 
salem, of the wonderful miracle Jesus had 
done in raising Lazarus from the grave, so 
they walked to Bethany to see Lazarus for 
themselves. Then many of them believed 
that Jesus was the Son of God. 

This made the Chief Priests and Phari- 
sees still more angry, and they said, " We 
must put Lazarus to death as well as Jesus, 
because by reason of him many Jews go 
away and believe in Jesus." 



32. Wxt $tM)$ at (&\W\%X% MttMitat 

(Bntx# Ma MmmXm. 

Matt. xxi. ? 1-17. Mark xi., 1-11. Luke xix., 
29-44. John xii., 12-19. 

ON the next day, which was the first 
day of the week, Jesus went from 
Bethany to Jerusalem, with His disciples 
and a large number of people. 

As He was going along the road, He 
said to two of His disciples, " Go into the 
village close by, and you will see an ass and 
her young one tied up. Untie them and 
bring them to Me. 

" If the man to whom they belong asks 
you what you are doing, say to him, ' The 
Lord wants them/ Then he will let you 
bring them." 

The two disciples went and found all as 
Jesus had said, so they untied the ass and 
brought it to Him. 

Some of the multitude now threw their 
cloaks upon the ass, and Jesus sat thereon ; 
and they all shouted His praises. 

13 



146 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

As soon as it was known in Jerusalem 
that Jesus was on His way to the city, great 
numbers of people came out to meet Him 
with branches of the palm-tree, which they 
waved about as they rejoiced. Others took 
off their cloaks and laid them on the ground, 
so as to make a carpet for Jesus to ride 
upon. 

Then the multitude again praised God 
with a loud voice, for all the wonders they 
had seen Jesus do, and said, "It is true that 
He has raised Lazarus from the tomb." 

-They cried, "Blessed be the King that 
cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in 
heaven, and glory in the highest." 

. There were some Pharisees in the crowd, 
and they said to Jesus, "Teacher, why do 
you not rebuke your disciples for crying 
out so ?" 

Jesus told them that the coming of the 
Messiah was so great an event, that should 
the multitude remain quiet, God would give 
even the stones a voice to rejoice at His 
approach. Yes, it was enough to make the 
very dullest shout and be glad. 

Xow Jesus was within sight of Jerusalem. 
He could see its towers glittering in the 



Christ's entry into Jerusalem. 1 17 

sunlight. There was the well-known Tem- 
ple of God, and the various buildings, of 
which every Jew was so proud. As He 
drew near to the city tears of pity filled 
His eyes. 

Why did Jesus weep ? He saw the vast 
crowd around Him, and heard the multi- 
tude cry, as with the voice of one man, 
"Behold the king of Israel." He knew 
that in a few days this same crowd would 
shout, " Crucify Him, crucify Him." It 
was not for Himself, however, that He 
wept. He wept over the sin of the peo- 
ple in refusing to have Him as their Sav- 
iour. He wept to think of the heavy woes 
which were so soon to come upon this very 
city, as a punishment for its great wicked- 
ness. 

At length Jesus came through the city 
gate, and rode into the streets of Jerusalem. 
Every one came out of his house to see 
the throng, and to ask who it is that the 
multitude is praising. 

"It is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth," 
people cried. 

Jesus then went into the Temple, and 



148 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

the blind and the lame came to Him to be 
cured, and He made them quite well. 

The Chief Priests and the Scribes looked 
on, and were much displeased to see the 
wonders that Jesus did, and to hear the 
praises of the multitudes. 

Even the very children cried, "Hosanna 
to the Son of David." 

Then the Chief Priests said to Jesus, 
" Do you not hear what a noise these 
children make? Why do you not stop 
them?" 

" I hear them," said Jesus. " Have you 
never read in the Psalms of David, that 
God has made praise to come out of the 
mouths of babes and sucklings." 

Jesus then left the Temple and when the 
evening came He went back to Bethany. 



33. Mt Mm at ifoe itotis apitist f <«♦ 

Matt, xxvi., 14-16. Mark xiv, 10-11. Luke 
xxii. ; 3-6. 

DARKER and deeper grew the hatred 
of the Scribes and Pharisees against 
Jesus. They had meant to have seized 
Him when He came to Jerusalem, but now 
they did not dare to take Him, for the 
whole city was calling Him King. 

Vexed and disappointed, they said, "We 
are no nearer getting Him into our power 
than we were before ; the whole world is 
gone after Him." Then they thought 
among themselves how they should get 
Him, and said, u We must take Him by 
deceit and cunning, if we cannot by force. 
We must not take Him at the time of the 
feast of the Passover, lest there be an up- 
roar among the people, and lest they try 
to get Him away from us. We had better 
seize Him before the feast, or afterwards ; 
before will be best. We will watch Him 



150 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

while He is teaching the people, and try to 
make Him say something which will seem 
to be against our law, or against the Roman 
government." 

The next morning Jesus returned, as 
usual, from Bethany, and went to the 
Temple to teach the crowds who came to 
hear Him. 

The Chief Priests and Pharisees were 
there, seeking how they might destroy 
Him ; but they could not do anything, for 
all the people hung round Him to hear 
Him, and listened with great attention. 

At evening time Jesus again went back 
to Bethany. 

The next morning Jesus returned to the 
Temple at Jerusalem. At an early hour a 
large crowd had gathered there, waiting 
for His coming from Bethany ; and there, 
too, like beasts of prey, were Christ's ene- 
mies, seeking how they might catch Him. 

They sent spies to Him, who pretended 
to be good men, who really wanted Christ 
to teach them what was right. 

They asked Him a question, which, in 
whatever way He answered it, they hoped 
would be sure to offend some of the par- 



THE PLOTS AGAINST JESUS. 151 

ties at Jerusalem. They were very sly ; 
they seemed to treat Christ with respect, 
for they dared not do otherwise when eve- 
ry one was looking on Him as a prophet 
of God. 

They said to Him, " Teacher, we know 
that You say what is right, and are not 
afraid to speak the truth. Now tell us 
what You think. Ought we to give trib- 
ute to Caesar, or not ?" 

Jesus knew that if He said, " No, do not 
give this tax money to the Roman Emperor 
Caesar/' that then the Romans would say 
that He was speaking against the govern- 
ment of the country, and they would then 
put Him in prison for rebellion. If Jesus 
said, u Yes, you ought to pay the tax," then 
the Jewish chiefs would be offended, and 
say that He was not a friend to their nation, 
because He taught the people to pay taxes 
to an Emperor who had conquered them, 
and whom they hated. 

Jesus saw through all their craft, and 
said, " Why do you try to catch Me in My 
words ? Show Me the money that you pay 
for the tax. 7 ' Then they brought Him a 
Roman penny, called a denarius, which 



152 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

was worth about sevenpence halfpenny of 
our money. 

Jesus looked at the coin and said, 
" Whose image is stamped upon this peice 
of money?" 

They said, " It is the likeness of Caesar." 

Then Jesus said, " Give to Caesar that 
which belongs to Caesar, and give to God 
things that are God's," 

This wise and true answer could not 
give offence to any one. His enemies 
wondered exceedingly at it, and they held 
their tongues. 

Again and again one party or another 
came to him, to try to make Him say 
something for which they could blame 
Him, but in vain. 

This was the last day that Jesus taught in 
public. This Tuesday evening He went to 
Bethany, and remained there quietly with 
His disciples until Thursday afternoon. 

Disappointed and angry, the enemies of 
Jesus again met in council. " We will 
have His life," they said ; " how shall we 
take it?" 

Just then Judas came to them. 

He said, " So you want to get Jesus in- 



^ 



THE PLOTS AGAINST JESUS. 153 

to your power ? I will help you, but you 
must pay me for my trouble." 

" Oh, yes," they said, " we shall be very 
glad to give you money for helping us." 

Judas asked, " How much will you give 
me if I deliver Him up to you ?" 

They said, " We will give you thirty sil- 
ver pieces." 

This was about four pounds ten shillings, 
and was just the price of the meanest slave. 

Perhaps they offered this small sum in 
order to show how they hated and despised 
Jesus, by putting upon His life only the 
value of a slave's life. 

Judas said, U I will take the money and 
betray Jesus. I know where He goes at 
night, and I will show you where He is 
when He is alone with His disciples. 
There will then be no crowd near to inter- 
fere, and you can take him away quite 
easily." 

It was on Wednesday evening that Judas 
left the council to seek for a convenient 
time to betray Jesus. This time soon 
came. 

The enemies of Christ said, u Now He 
will soon be in our power, and then we 



154 



NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 



will kill him;" and they rejoiced with a 
wicked joy. They were like Satan him- 
self, for he is always glad at wickedness 
and sin. 



34. me gtwy ai (SllxxtoU gftrt 9 wpv* 

PART I. 

John xiii., 1-18. 

I HAVE told you that this week the feast 
of the Passover was held at Jerusalem ; 
and that many thousands of Jews had come 
up from all parts of the country to keep it. 

Do you know why this feast was held, 
and what the Passover meant ? 

It was the chief of the Jewish feasts, and 
it was kept at Jerusalem every year, in 
remembrance of the deliverance of the 
Jews from the land of Egypt. 

About fifteen hundred years before this 
time, the Jews were slaves to the Egyp- 
tians, who treated, them very cruelly. 
God heard their cry of suffering, and sent 



Christ's last supper. 155 

Moses to bring them out from the land of 
Egypt into Canaan, or Palestine. 

But Pharaoh would not let them go ; so 
God sent ten dreadful plagues upon the 
Egyptians. The last was the worst, and after 
that Pharaoh let the children of Israel go. 

This last plague was the death of the 
first-born. God said that He would send 
an angel to pass over all the land of Egypt, 
to kill the first-born son in every house, 
from the kingly house of Pharaoh, to the 
house of the poorest beggar. 

But God said, u The angel shall not go 
into any of the houses of the Israelites or 
Jews : if there is the blood of a lamb sprink- 
led upon the door-posts, the angel shall pass 
over those houses." 

God also said, " You must take a lamb 
for each family, it must be a lamb that has 
nothing the matter with it, it must have no 
disease. You must kill it and sprinkle the 
blood on your door-posts for the angel to 
see. Then you must roast it whole and eat 
it. If you cannot eat it all, then you must 
burn what is left with fire, and not leave 
any till, morning." This was because meat 
in that hot country turns bad or corrupt in 






156 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

a very short time, and it was not fit that 
any part of a sacrifice to God, such as this 
lamb was, should become corrupt. 

They were to eat the lamb with bread 
made without yeast or leaven. It was call- 
ed unleavened bread. Now leaven is a 
kind of corruption, and causes fermentation 
in the bread in which it is used. They 
were to eat bread made without yeast, to 
teach them to put away sin in their hearts, 
which is like leaven in corrupting and 
spreading throughout every part. 

They were to eat it also with bitter salad 
or herbs, to remind them of the bitter and 
hard bondage that they had suffered in 
Egypt. They were to eat it standing, with 
their shoes on their feet, and their staff in 
their hands, so as to be quite ready to start 
at once for their journey that night from 
the land of Egypt. As they ate it they 
thanked God for sending His angel to pass 
over their houses, while He stopped at the 
houses of the Egyptians. 

This was the passover night. Every 
year after that, when the same day came 
round again, the Jews ate a meal in the 
same way to remind them of that night. 



Christ's last supper. 157 

The passover lamb was a type of Christ. 
Sin and Satan are worse taskmasters than 
the Egyptians ever were, and theirs is a 
harder service than that suffered by the 
Jews of old. 

Christ has come to set us free from their 
power, We deserve punishment for our 
many sins. Jesus gave Himself up as a 
sacrifice for sin. He was without any fault 
or sin Himself, and God will pass over our 
sins for the sake of Jesus, if we seek to be 
forgiven through His death. So Jesus is 
called our Passover. 

Jesus was crucified on the day before the 
Passover was eaten that year ; but He told 
His disciples that He should like to eat a 
Passover feast with them before He died. 

So on Thursday morning He sent John 
and Peter into Jerusalem to get the supper 
ready. 

u To what house shall we go? 7 ' said 
they, for Jesus had no house of His own. 

Jesus said, " When you go into the city 
you will see a man with a jug of water in 
his hand; follow him. Notice the house 
where the man goes in, and then say to 
the master of that house, the Teacher says 



158 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

to you, c Where is the guest chamber, 
that I may eat the passover with my disci- 
ples?' He will show you a large upper 
room ready furnished, where you may 
make the supper ready." 

So Peter and John went to Jerusalem, 
and found all happen just as Jesus had said. 

They found the man with the jug of 
water, and they went to the master of 
the house where he stopped. He took 
them upstairs and showed them a room 
with a table and couches, and all the 
cups and dishes that they wanted for the 
supper. 

Then Peter and John got some wine, and 
the bread without leaven, and the bitter 
herbs, and had the lamb killed all ready 
for the evening. 

When the evening came, Jesus and His 
disciples returned from Bethany, and went 
up into the room where the supper was to 
be held. 

Before they began to eat their supper 
Jesus rose from His place at table, and 
took off His robe or upper coat, and tied a 
towel round His waist, after the fashion of 
a servant. 



Christ's last supper. 159 

Then He took a jug and poured some 
water into a basin, and began to wash His 
disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the 
towel that was tied round His waist. 

This act of Jesus astonished the disciples 
very much. 

That their Divine Master, whom they 
loved and reverenced so greatly, should do* 
for them such a lowly service, may well 
have surprised them. Still they held their 
tongues, and obeyed His wish by allowing 
Him to wash their feet. All but Peter — • 
he, with his usual hastiness, said, " Lord 
dost Thou wash my feet ?" 

Jesus said, " Yes, let me do it now, I 
will tell you the reason why, by and by." 

But this did not satisfy Peter ; he said, 
" Thou shalt never wash my feet." 

Jesus reproved his self-will by saying*, 
"If I do not wash your feet, you cannot be 
mine." 

This was to teach Peter that every true 
disciple must give up his own will entirely 
to Chirst's will, and that it is Jesus who 
makes the heart clean. 

Peter was frightened at the idea of hav- 
ing no part in Christ; so he cried out, cc If 






160 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

it is so, Lord, wash not my feet alone, but 
also my hands and my head." 

" No," replied Jesus, " that would be too 
much. He that has bathed does not need 
to be washed again, excepting his feet" 

Christ meant that as Peter had, accord- 
ing to the usual custom, bathed before 
icoming to the supper, he was clean, except- 
ing the dust that had come upon his feet 
while walking along the road to the house. 

This dust was what Jesus removed in 
washing his feet. Then Peter let Jesus do 
what He wished. 

When Jesus had finished washing all the 
disciples' feet, He laid aside the towel, and 
put on His robe again. 

" Now," He said, " I will tell you why I 
have done this. You call me your Master 
and Lord, and so I am. If I, then, your 
Lord and Master, can do kind and lowly 
acts of service for you, then you ought to 
be willing to be kind and loving to one an- 
other. Be humble, and do not think your- 
selves better than others. It is far better 
to wait upon and do good to others, than 
it is to be served yourselves. If ye know 
these things, happy are ye if ye do them." 



35. Ifte Mmj ai (&M$X$ p$t Mm*** 

PART II. 

John xiii., 21-31. 

JESUS, having washed His disciples' 
feet, sat down with them to supper. 

As they were eating, Jesus talked to 
them. He seemed to be very sorry about 
something. 

What was it that troubled Him so much ? 
Was it the thought of the cruel death He 
was about to die ? 

No ; it was because He was sorry that 
Judas was so wicked. He could hardly 
bear to think that any one who had been 
like a friend so long, should be so false as 
to be willing to give Him up in the hands 
of His enemies. 

At last He said out loud, " One of you, 
my disciples, will betray Me." 

Then they all looked at one another, for 
they could not understand what Jesus meant. 
Judas knew, for he was guilty, but the oth- 



162 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

ers did not know. They all felt very- 
grieved, to think that any one of them 
could be so wicked, as to give up his dear 
Master to those wl\o wished to put Him to 
death. 

They wanted very much to know w T ho it 
was that could do this wicked deed, but 
they did not like to ask Jesus. 

At last Peter whispered to John, "Do 
you ask Jesus who it is." 

John was the best loved of all the disci- 
ples, and he was next to his Master at this 
supper. 

You must not suppose that people in 
those Eastern countries sat on chairs at 
their meals, as we do. No ; they leaned on 
couches or sofas, which were placed round 
the table. They lay on one side, resting 
their left arm on the table, and their feet 
were turned out away from the table. 
Sometimes two, or even three people 
would lie upon one couch, and so the head 
of one came near to the bosom of him who 
was reclining above him on the same couch. 

It was John who was thus lying on Jesus' 
breast now. He liked to be close to One 
whom he loved so dearly, and he could 



CHRIST S LAST SUPPER. 163 

speak many a loving word, as lie lay thus 
in the bosom of his master. 

When Peter told John to ask Jesus who 
it was that should betray Him? John 
whispered to Jesus, " Lord, who is it?" 

Jesus whispered to John, "It is he 
to whom I shall give the morsel of lamb, 
when I have dipped it in the sauce of bit- 
ter herbs." 

It was Judas' turn to have the next mor- 
sel from the hands of Jesus. Then John 
knew that it was Judas who would betray 
Christ. Judas had seen the whisperings, 
and his guilty conscience told him that his 
intended sin was found out. As the others 
seemed sorry, he pretended to be sorry too, 
and asked Jesus very softly, "Master, is it I ?" 

Jesus answered, " You have said rightly." 

As soon as he had eaten what Jesus gave 
him, Jesus said to him, " Make haste, and 
do what you mean to do." 

Then Judas went away from the room 
out into the night. 

The disciples could not think what Jesus 
meant by what He said to Judas. They 
thought, as Judas kept the purse, that Jesus 
told bim to go and buy what they should 



164 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

want next day, or that lie was to give some 
money to the poor. 

Judas knew that Jesus meant, " As you 
have made up your mind to betray me, do 
so soon." 

Where did Judas go ? 

He went to the Jewish Council, and said, 
" Jesus is now at supper with His disciples 
in Jerusalem. He will soon go from thence 
to the Mount of Olives. There is a garden 
there to which He often goes. I know the 
place well, and I will show it to you by 
and by." 

Then were they very glad, and promised 
to send some of their servants, and some 
Roman soldiers, with Judas, to take Him. 



36. Me mm ** «0i'0 P$t Mm*- 

PART III. 

m 

Matt, xxvi., 26-35. Mark xiv. ; 22-31. Luke 
xxii., 14-20. John xiv., xv., xvi., xvii. 

AS soon as Judas had left the room, 
Jesus said, " I shall not be with you 
much longer. I shall want you to remem- 
ber Me when I am gone ; I shall not like 
you to forget Me." 

Jesus broke one of the thin cakes of 
Passover bread into small pieces, and said, 
" Look at this broken bread ; my body will 
soon be broken on the cross for you : eat 
this, and think of Me." Then He gave 
thanks, and passed the bread round to them 
and they each ate one of the broken pieces. 

After that He poured out some red wine 
into a cup, and said, u This wine is to re- 
mind you of My blood, which is so soon 
going to be spilt for you: drink it, and 
think of Me. 

" This blood of Mine is like a seal to a 
new agreement. Sacrifices need no more be 



166 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

offered, after My body is offered as a sacri- 
fice for sin. The blood of no more lambs 
need be shed, after My blood is shed for 
man's sin. After I am gone, when you eat 
again of this bread and wine, be sure you 
think of Me. Think of My love in dying 
for you, think how great must man's sin be 
to need such a sacrifice as My life. 

"This is the last meal that I shall eat 
with you. Be sure you love one another 
when I am gone away, even as I have loved 
you." 

Peter said, " Lord, where are you going ?" 

Jesus answered, "lam going where you 
cannot follow Me ; at least, not now." 

Peter said, "Lord, why cannot I follow 
You ; I am willing to die for You." 

Jesus said, "All of you will forsake Me; 
this very night you will be afraid, and run 
away, and leave Me alone with My ene- 
mies." 

Then Peter began to boast, and said, iC I 
am sure I shall not leave You, even if all 
the others do. I will lay down my life for 
Your sake." 

Jesus gently said, " Will you lay down 
your life for My sake? Peter, Peter, 



Christ's last supper. 167 

before the cock crows to-morrow morning, 
you will have said three times that you do 
not even know Me." 

Peter said, again and again, that " he was 
quite sure that Jesus was mistaken." So, 
too, all the disciples said. 

We shall soon see whether Jesus did not 
know best. 

Jesus then began to comfort His disci- 
ples. He said, u Do not be troubled be- 
cause I go away from you. I shall go back 
to My Father's house, and it shall be your 
house too. I will get a place there ready for 
you. I know you will like to be where I 
am, and so you shall be. I Myself will 
come for you. Trust in Me. While I 
have been with you here, you have been 
used to ask Me for what you wanted. You 
may still ask Me, pray to Me for anything 
when I am gone away from you. 

u Be sure to do as I tell you, for if you 
love Me, you will keep My commandments. 

" I shall be very near to those who obey 
Me, and my Father will be near too ; as 
close as if we lived in the same house 
with them. 

" My Father will send the Holy Spirit to 



168 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

you when I am gone, and He will teach you 
many things that you do not understand 
now ; and after I am dead, He will help 
you to remember what I have taught you 
while I was with you." 

Then Jesus gave them His blessing ; He 
said, " My peace I give to you ; not such 
as the world gives, give I to you. It is a 
real, true peace, that the world knows 
nothing about ; I only give it to My dis* 
ciples." 

Jesus then said, "Let us rise from the 
supper-table, and go away from this house ;" 
but He could not leave off talking to and 
comforting His disciples. How very great 
was His love and care for others, if He 
could at such a time forget His own greater 
sorrow, in the grief that He knew His dis- 
ciples would feel, when they found their 
Master roughly taken from them. He 
prayed a last prayer with them, and for 
them; a beautiful prayer, in which He 
most lovingly committed them to the care 
of His heavenly Father. They then sung 
a hymn, and went to the Mount of Olives. 



Matt, xxvi., 36-46. Luke xxii., 40-46. 

AT the bottom of the Mount of Olives 
was a garden ; it was called Geth- 
semane. The name means an oil-press ; for 
most likely near there the oil was pressed 
out of the olives, ready for use. 

The garden itself probably consisted of 
a grove of olive-trees ; and in that grove, 
among those large trees, Jesus could pass 
many quiet hours unnoticed. 

The olive lives to be very old. Some of 
the trees, which were standing when Jesus 
was alive, are there now, and are thought 
to be more than two thousand years old. 
Would you not like to see them ? 

When Jesus reached the garden, after 
His last supper with His disciples, it was 
about midnight. The full moon was shin- 
ing brightly but softly, and the big trees 
threw large dark shadows across the path. 

15 



170 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

There were many quiet spots for prayer 
in this garden; that was one reason why 
Jesus chose to go to it so often. 

Now this is His last visit to it, for His 
work on earth is nearly done. He began 
this work by going alone into the wilder- 
ness to pray ; He prepares Himself for its 
end by prayer too. 

Jesus said to His disciples, "lam going 
to pray ; I wish you to stay here, while I 
go a little farther into the garden. Peter, 
James, and John, you three may come 
with Me." 

They went a little farther in, and Jesus 
said to them, " I feel full of the greatest 
sorrow, it is like a heavy weight, that al- 
most crushes Me to death. I am going to 
pray, I want you to pray too." Then Jesus 
went a little way from them, and kneeled 
down under the shadow of an olive-tree 
and prayed. 

GrYeat and bitter was the sorrow that 
filled His soul. He grieved over the rage 
of His enemies, and over the blindness of 
the people who would not see in Him their 
Saviour. He also shrank at the thought of 
His coming death. Death came into the 



Christ's agony in gethsemane. 171 

world through sin. Sin was the cause of 
all the suffering in the world, and He was 
now about to feel the punishment of sin for 
man's sake. The reason of the great agony 
of Christ, no sinful man can understand. 
Because Jesus was holy, He felt, as none of 
us can feel, the exceeding sinfulness of sin. 

This was the chief cause of His present 
anguish of spirit. He was now suffering 
for the world, and the burden seemed 
heavier than He could bear. It was like 
a bitter drink that He did not know how 
to take. 

He prayed, " Oh, my Father, Thou canst 
do all things ; take away this cup from Me ; 
but if mankind can be saved in no other 
way than my drinking it, I will drink it all. 
Let it be as Thou wilt, not as I will." 

Jesus then went to look at the three dis- 
ciples ; they were not praying — they were 
not even awake — no, they were fast asleep. 

Jesus was grieved that they showed so 
little feeling for Him in His time of trouble. 
He remembered Peter's boasting and said 
to him, " What ! could you not watch with 
Me one hour?" 

He told them all to keep awake and 



172 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

pray. Then He went away the second 
time and prayed again, " Oh, my Father, 
if this cup may not pass from Me, except I 
drink it, Thy will be done." 

Again Jesus returned to the three disci- 
ples, and again they were fast asleep. 

He left them and went back to His place 
of prayer, and kneeling down He prayed 
yet more earnestly, in the same words as 
before. 

The conflict was over ; that sharp season 
of trial in which His sweat was as drops of 
blood falling to the ground. An angel 
from heaven came to comfort and strength- 
en Him. He was now quite ready to offer 
Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the 
world. He knew that this was the will of 
God — the true end of the work that He 
came to do. 

Jesus now returned to Peter, James and 
John, aixd found them asleep again. He 
said, " You may sleep on now ; 1 will 
wake you no more to watch and pray with 
me. Soon, however, your sleep will be 
rudely broken, for my enemies are near. 
Already they are coming ; arise, let us gp 
hence." 



38. wm mm of ®\tvm ^ttv%p& % 

Matt, xxvi., 47-56. John xviii., 2-12. 

A NUMBER of people now entered 
the garden. They were the servants 
of the Jewish Council, with some Roman 
soldiers, and Judas was among them. The 
soldiers had swords, and the other men had 
heavy sticks. They had lanterns and torch- 
es, to look into the caves and corners, lest 
Jesus should hide Himself in them. They 
did not want them, though ; for it was 
quite light with the full moon, and Jesus 
would not run away and hide Himself. 

Judas had said to the men beforehand, 
" Whoever I kiss, He is the person that 
you are to take ; hold Him fast." 

Then he went up to Jesus and kissed 
Him, and said, " Hail, Master I" 

Jesus said, " Why have you come here ? 

He then went forward up to the men and 
did not wait for them to find Him out. 

He said, " Who is it that you want?" 



174 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

" Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. 

Jesus said, "I am He." 

As soon as He had said this, the men 
went back and fell to the ground, struck 
by His calm majestic look. The servants 
of the Jewish Council must have known 
that He was a prophet, and the doer of 
many wonderful works ; hence their fear. 

Again Jesus asked, " Whom seek ye ?" 

Again they answered, " Jesus of Naz- 
areth." 

" I have told you before that I am He. 
I will go with you, but I command you to 
let my disciples go away." 

How thoughtful and unselfish was the 
love of Jesus to care for the safety of His 
disciples in that time of danger to himself. 

They began to bind Him but they did 
not dare to touch the disciples. Hasty Pe- 
ter drew a sword, intending to cut through 
the head of Malchus, who was the High 
Priest's servant, but the sword slipped, so 
he only cut off his ear. Jesus at once 
touched his ear and made it quite well. 
It was the ear of a man who was an enemy 
that Jesus healed. He forgave injuries, 
He did not revenge them. 






CHRIST BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 



175 



He turned to Peter and said, " Put away 
your sword. These men could not take 
Me if I did not willingly give myself up 
to them. If I were to ask my Father, He 
would at once give me, instead of you 
twelve apostles, more than twelve legions 
of angels.* 

" But if I were to do so, how would the 
old writings come true, which say I am to 
suffer and die. It is my Father's wish, and 
My own wish too, to give myself up now." 

While the men were binding Jesus fast, 
He said, '" Why do you come with swords 
to take Me, as if I were a thief? When I 
was with you teaching in the Temple, you 
did not try to take Me. You thought the 
people would not let you have Me, but that 
you would be sure of Me if you came when 
I was alone. But you could not take Me 
even now, had the time not come when God 
allowed you to do so." 

Then all the disciples, when they saw 
Jesus thus in the hands of His enemies, 
were afraid and ran away, and left Him 
quite alone. All, even boasting Peter, fled. 

* A Roman legion was composed of six thousand men. 



39. Zht ftovy of %tttf$ genial 

Matt, xxvi, 53. 59, 69-75. John xviii., 15-18 ; 
25-27. 

THE soldiers led Jesus away to the 
house of the High Priest. 

Peter soon followed, for he wanted to see 
what the wicked men would do to Jesus. 
Another disciple was with him. and this 
disciple was known to the High Priest. 
He spoke to the woman who kept the door 
of the High Priest's house, and said, " Let 
this friend of mine come into the house, 
with me." 

So Peter went into the hall. This was 
a square yard or court, and the rooms of 
the house were built on the sides of the 
open space. 

The night was cold, so the servants made 
a fire in the hall or court-yard, and Peter 
went to the fire to warm himself. 

Presently the woman who kept the door 
came to the fire too. She looked very 






PETERS DENIAL. 



177 



hard at Peter, and said, "Why, you are 
one of the disciples of Jesus of Galilee I" 

Peter was frightened : he did not want 
any one to know that he belonged to Jesus, 
lest they should kill him too. So he said 
before all the servants, " No, I am not ; I 
do not even know the man about whom 
you spoke." 

Peter did not like to stay by the fire any 
longer ; he went into the passage between 
the court-yard and the street door. Then, 
after a little while, some one else saw him, 
and said, " Surely, you are one of the dis- 
ciples of Jesus ?" 

"No," said Peter, u you are mistaken; I 
am not." 

Peter went again into the hall, and about 
an hour afterwards some one said, u Itis 
quite certain that you are one of this man's 
disciples. You talk like a man from Gali- 
lee; your speech is not like that of the 
men of Jerusalem." 

Then one of the servants of the High 
Priest, who was a relation of the man 
whose ear Peter had cut off, said, " Did I 
not see you in the garden with Jesus ? 
Yes, I am sure I did." 



178 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Peter was now more frightened than 
ever. He began to curse and swear, and 
say, "I don't know what you mean; I 
know nothing about the man." 

This was the third time that Peter had 
denied that he knew Jesus, and directly 
afterwards he heard a cock crow. 

Then Peter remembered how he had 
boasted to his Master, " That he loved Him 
so dearly that he would die for Him." He 
remembered, too, how Jesus had said that 
" before the cock crew he would have said 
three times that he did not even know 
Him." 

The door of the room where Jesus stood 
bound was open, and Peter turned to look 
at Him. Jesus had heard the cock crow 
too, and He turned and looked at Peter. 

It was such a look. It w^as so full of 
sorrowing love that Peter could not bear it. 
He went out of the hall directly, and began 
to cry, as if his heart would break. He 
really did love Jesus, and he felt so sorry 
that, out of fear for himself, he had said 
that he did not even know Him. 

Peter showed that his sorrow was real, 
for he was never afraid to speak the truth 



Christ's trul. J£9 

after that. He always owned that he knew 
and loved Jesus; and many years after- 
wards, he was willing to die for Christ rath- 
er than give up preaching about Him. 



40. ®%t Mm *t Wxfi&Xt Mat Mm* tUt 

Matt, xxvi., 59^68. John xviii., 19-24. 

AS it was about the middle of the 
night that Jesus was taken prisoner, 
they could not bring Him before the Jew- 
ish council until the early morning. 

The High Priest, however, during the 
night asked Him many questions about His 
disciples, and about His teachings. 

Jesus said, " You might have known if 
you had come to listen to Me when I 
taught in the Jewish places of worship, 
and in the Temple, where all the Jews 
came to hear. Why do you ask Me if 
I have said anything wrong? Ask those 



1|P NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

who have heard Me whether I have said 
anything contrary to the truth." 

Then one of the officers hit Jesus on the 
face and said, " Don't speak so to the High 
Priest." 

Jesus quietly said, " If I have spoken 
what was wrong prove it; if not, you 
should not hit me." 

As soon as ever it was day, the Chief 
Priests, and Scribes, and Pharisees met to- 
gether in council, and brought Jesus before 
them, to ask Him questions before they 
comdemned Him to death. 

Many wicked men came forward to say 
that they had heard Jesus teach what was 
wrong. One, however, said one thing, and 
another something else, so they contradict- 
ed each other, and their witness against 
Jesus was of no use. 

Jesus stood quite still. When He heard 
all these untrue things said of Him, He did 
not get angry and say, "You are telling 
lies about me." 

Then the High Priest stood up in the 
midst of the council, and said to Jesus, 
" Do you hear what these men say about 
you? Why do you not tell us whether 



Christ's trial. 181 

they are speaking truth, or falsehood?" 
But Jesus' held His tongue and answered 
nothing. 

The High Priest then said, " I command 
you, in the name of the living God, to tell 
us whether you are or are not the Son of 
God?" 

Then Jesus said, " If I say I am, it is of 
no use ; you know you do not mean to let 
Me go free again. Soon, however, you will 
see me prove that I am the Son of God, for 
my kingdom will spread, and you cannot 
hinder it." 

All of them said to Him, " Then you 
really mean to say that you are the Son of 
God?" 

" I do," said Jesus, " it is quite true." 

The High Priest rent his robes, to show 
his great horror that Jesus should have 
spoken what he called blasphemy. To 
blaspheme is to speak irreverently of God, 
and they thought that Jesus, whom they 
looked upon as only a poor man, did not 
speak, of God with reverence when He said* 
that He was "God's Son." 

They said, " We need not call any more 
witnesses to tell us whether they have 

10 



182 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES 

heard Him teach wrong things, for we 
have heard Him ourselves speak against 
God, and pretend to be His Son. He 
teaches falsely, and He must be put to 
death." 

The Jews, as I told you before, were 
conquered by the Romans, who did not 
allow them to put any one to death without 
their leave. 

Less punishment than death the Jews 
might give themselves, but they did not 
want to send Jesus to prison, nor to 
scourge Him ; they wanted Him to be put 
to death. 

They said, " We must take Him to the 
Roman Governor Pilate: what shall we 
tell him is His fault ?" Pilate will never put 
Him to death because He says that He is 
the Son of God — for Pilate is a heathen, 
and does not care anything about our God. 
We must find something else to say against 
Him." They thought a little while, and 
then they said, " We will tell Pilate that 
He pretends to be a king, that He tells the 
people not to pay taxes to the Roman 
government, and that He goes about from 
one part of the country to another teaching 



Christ's trial. 183 

the people to rebel against the Emperor. 
Pilate will listen to this story against the 
government, though he will not care about 
false religious teaching. As soon as Pilate 
goes into the judgment-hall, this morning, 
we will take Jesus to him." 

While they were thus talking, they gave 
up Jesus to their servants, who ill-treated 
Him. 

They covered over His eyes, so that He 
could not see; then they hit Him, and 
said, " You pretend to be the Son of God, 
and to know all things ; if this is true, you 
can tell who it is that hits you, though you 
cannot see." 

But Jesus was calm and gentle, and 
spoke not a single word. They spat upon 
His face, .they beat Him about, they laugh- 
ed at Him, and looked at Him with eyes 
full of hatred. They were like wild 
beasts ; but Jesus was quiet as a lamb. 

You children, who will not bear one 
angry word from your companions, learn 
of Jesus to be patient and forgiving under 
injury. 



184 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

" The Saviour answered not again, 
Nor spoke an angry word 

To all the scoffs of wicked men, 
Although He was their Lord. 

'And who am I? a sinful child, 
Such angry words to say. 

)h, make me mild, as he was mild, 
And take my pride away." 



41. f Ite Mmj ai (&Mtf$ WvxX Mm 

PART I. 

Luke xxiii., 1-2. John xviii., 28-38. 

THE Chief Priests, and Scribes, and 
Pharisees, now led Jesus to the judg- 
ment-hall to Pilate, that he might try Jesus 
as a prisoner, and condemn Him to death. 

They would not go into the hall them- 
selves, but stood outside. They wanted to 
eat the Passover that evening, and they said 
that they should not be able to do so, as they 
would be defiled if they entered the house 
of a heathen. Just as if their evil passions 
of hatred and anger did not make them 



CHRIST S TRIAL BEFORE PILATE. 185 

more unclean, and unfit for this religious 
service, than going into the house of a Ro- 
man and a heathen would do. 

Pilate, therefore, went outside the hall to 
speak to the Jewish council. He said to 
them, "Why have you brought this man 
Jesus to me ?" 

They answered, " Should we have 
brought Him to you, if He was not an evil- 
doer?" 

Pilate said, "I have not heard of any 
disturbance of the public peace caused by 
Him ; I expect that you do not like Him, 
and have brought Him here because you 
cannot agree with Him on some point of 
your religion. You had better settle this 
matter among yourselves, so take Him and 
judge Him according to your own laws." 

This, however, did not suit the Jewish 
council. They replied, " The Emperor will 
not let us put any one to death without 
your leave, and we want to have this man 
punished by death." 

Pilate then went back again into the judg- 
ment-hall, and called Jesus to him to ques- 
tion Him again. " Are you the king of the 
Jews?" 

16* 



186 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Jesus answered, "Do you ask me because 
you yourself think that I am, or because 
my enemies tell you that I am ?" 

Pilate said, " I only repeat what your own 
nation have said to me. What have you 
done to make them say so ?" 

Jesus answered, "lama king, but not in 
the sense in which you, a Roman, will un- 
derstand me. My kingdom will not inter- 
fere with the kings of earth. If my king- 
dom were of this world, then my servants 
would fight for Me, as do the soldiers of 
earthly kings for them ; and then the Jews 
would not have been able to take Me and 
bring Me before you." 

u Then Tou mean to say that You are a 
king ?" said Pilate. 

u Yes," Jesus replied, " I was born into 
the world that I might set up a kingdom 
in the souls of men. All that love truth, 
obey My laws and mind My teaching." 

u Love truth!" cried Pilate; u What is 
truth ? Is there such a thing ?" 

But Pilate did not wait for an answer. 
He was a wicked man, and cared only for 
the things of this world, such as riches, and 
ease, and fame. He cared nothing for the 




Christ's trial before pilate. 187 

world to come — the world we cannot see — 
nor for truth, and holiness, and God. 

He did not care to hear what truth was, 
but went outside the hall to the Jewish 
council. He thought that Jesus was a very 
harmless man, with some strange notions 
on religion, but not guilty of trying to set 
up a kingdom to overthrow the Roman 
government. He therefore said, U I can 
find no fault with this man Jesus." 

Then they all cried out fiercely, some 
one thing and some another, but all speak- 
ing against Jesus. 

Pilate turned to Jesus and said, "Do 
you hear all these things that the people 
cry out against You ? What answer can 
You give to their charges ?" 

But Jesus never spoke a word, so that 
Pilate wondered exceedingly. 

Then they cried out again, u He misleads 
the people from Galilee to Judea." 

" Galilee did you say?" asked Pilate. 

" Yes," they said, u He was brought up 
at Nazareth, in Lower Galilee." 

u Then He belongs to a place of which 
Herod is the governor ; I will send Jesus 
to him." 




188 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

So Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, who was 
now come up to Jerusalem to attend the 
Passover. 

Herod had long wanted to see Jesus, and 
he was very glad that Pilate had sent Him. 
He had heard so much of the wonders that 
Jesus had done while He lived in Galilee, 
that he was very curious to see Him work 
some miracle now. 

But it was no part of the Saviour's work 
to satisfy a vain curiosity. 

Herod did not want to learn the truth 
when he asked Jesus about His teaching, so 
He answered none of his idle questions. 

The Chief Priests and Scribes had fol- 
lowed Jesus to Herod, and began loudly to 
complain of Him. 

What a difference between all their 
angry noise and the Saviour's calmness ! 

Herod was vexed with Jesus, because He 
would not work a wonder just to please 
him, nor answer any of his idle questions : 
so he and his soldiers began to mock Him. 
They threw a beautiful white robe over 
Him, such as the Jewish kings wore, and 
laughed at Him, and said, " Are you a king?" 
Thus robed, Herod sent Him back to Pilate. 



PART II. 

Luke xxiii., 13-25. John xix., 1-16. 

WHEN Pilate saw Jesus brought 
back from Herod, he called togeth- 
er the Jewish council and said, "You have 
brought this man to me as a person who 
misleads the people. I have questioned 
Him, but I can find no fault in Him with 
regard to those things for which you blame 
Him. I have sent Him to Herod, as you 
know, and he says, too, that he can see no 
reason why Jesus should be put to death. 

" I will therefore have him whipped, and 
let go. 

" You know that I always release a pris- 
oner to you in honor of the feast of the 
Passover." 

" Yes," they replied, " do so now, accord- 
ing to custom." 

"I will," saidPliate; "you know that 



190 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

there is a man, named Barabbas, now in 
prison for robbery and murder. Choose, 
then, whom I shall let go free, Barabbas, 
or He who is called your king ?" 

The Chief Priests had told the multitude 
to ask for Barabbas, so the vast crowd cried, 
as with the voice of one man, "Away with 
this Jesus, and set Barabbas free!" 

Pilate was a Roman judge : he knew that 
it was his duty to punish the guilty, and 
set free the innocent. So he ought to have 
done what he knew to be right, and let 
Jesus go instead of listening to His enemies. 
He had a great many soldiers, who could 
soon have sent all these wicked people away. 
Pilate thought, u If I do not please them, 
they will write to the Roman emperor, and 
tell him of the many cruel things I have 
done to them, and then perhaps Caesar will 
not let me be governor any longer, and per- 
haps he will kill me." Pilate was afraid to 
do right, and this wicked fear led him to 
the great crime of allowing the Saviour to 
be put to death. 

Pilate spoke again to the people, u This 
man is innocent, but Barabbas is guilty : let 
Jesus go free." 



Christ's trial before pilate. 191 

The only reply was, " Crucify Him, cru- 
cify Him!" 

For the third time Pilate said, " I have 
found no reason why He should be cruci- 
fied, but I will have Him whipped." 

" That will not do," they cried. " He is 
a false prophet, He has deceived us, He 
must be crucified." 

Pilate found that all he said was useless, 
for the crowd became more and more noisy. 

Then he called for some water, and wash- 
ed his hands before them all, and said, " I 
wash my hands, to show you that I am inno- 
cent of the blood of this good man. If 
you will have Him put to death, the fault 
is yours." 

Then all the people said, " If we put Him 
to death as an innocent man, let us and let 
our children bare the blame. We will ans- 
wer for His blood." 

What an awful speech ! Not many years 
after they had crucified the Saviour, the 
Roman soldiers came and pulled down all 
the houses and streets of Jerusalem, and 
put many thousands of Jews to death by 
crucifixion. The Jews ever since then have 
had no home in their own land, but have 



192 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

wandered about, living in strange coun- 
tries. 

Pilate now gave Jesus to the soldiers tliat 
they might scourge Him. They took Him 
away into the common hall, and the whole 
band came together to see Him scourged, 
and to mock Him. They took off His robes 
so as to lay bare His back, and whipped 
Him with ropes tied in knots, till the blood 
ran down, and His back was dreadfully cut 
and sore. 

Then they put on Him a cloak of purple 
or red, of the same color as the robes of 
the Roman emperor. They then said, " Our 
king must have a crown," so they twisted 
some thorny plant into a wreath, and put 
it on His head. 

" Our king must have a sceptre," said 
they, mockingly ; so the y took a reed, and 
put it in His hands. Th en they bowed the 
knee before Him, and said, with rude laugh- 
ter, " king of the Jews." 

They mocked Him, they beat Him with 
their hands ; they spat upon His face, and 
took the sceptre out of His hands to hit 
Him on the head. 

It is bad to have to bear pain, even when 



Christ's trial before pilate. 193 

loving friends speak kindly to us, and do 
all they can to make us well ; but our Sav- 
iour was rudely laughed at by cruel ene- 
mies while He suffered this fearful bloody 
scourging. 

It was for us He bore it all; "by His 
stripes we are healed." 

Pilate now went out to the people, and 
said, " I will bring Jesus to you again." 

Then he brought out Jesus, all bleeding 
as He was, dressed out with the purple 
cloak, and crowned with thorns. 

" Behold the man," he cried, " Can you 
believe that He would wish to make Him- 
self king?" 

Pilate hoped they would be sorry when 
they saw Him looking so sad, with all the 
cruel marks of the ill-treatment of the sol- 
diers. But, no, they had no pity. Jesus 
had pity for every one, but no one had pity 
on Him. 

They cried out fiercely, " Crucify Him, 
crucify Him!" 

"You must crucify Him yourselves, 
then," said Pilate, "for I see no reason 
why I should do so." 

The Jews replied, " The emperor wishes 






194 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

you to govern us by our own laws, and by 
our own laws He ought to die. He has 
spoken against God. He says, that He is 
the Son of God." 

Pilate then was exceedingly afraid : he 
asked Jesus, " From whence then do you 
come ? Are you the Son of God ?" 

He might well think that there was 
something God-like in the prisoner before 
him. 

No man would have so meekly borne 
pain, and insult and injury. He never de- 
fended Himself from the evil speaking of 
His enemies, and His majestic calmness was 
in bright contrast to the haste, and hate, 
and violence of His enemies. 

To the question, "Are you the Son of 
God?" Jesus gave no reply. 

The worldly heathen Pilate could not 
understand in what sense He wished to be 
thought the Son of God. 

Again, Pilate wondered at this strange 
silence. " Why do you not answer me ?" 
he asked. " Do you not know that I have 
power to crucify you, or power to set you 
free ?" 

" You could have no power to take 



Christ's trial before pilate. 195 

my life," replied Jesus, " did not God will, 
for His own wise purpose, that I should 
die." 

When Pilate heard this, he tried more 
earnestly to save Him ; but the Jews cried 
out, "If you let this man go, you are not 
true to the Emperor Caesar ; for whoever 
makes himself a king, as Jesus does, is an 
enemy to Caesar." 

Then Pilate sat down in the judgment 
seat in the outer paved court ; but before 
he gave Him up to the soldiers, he tried 
once more to save Him. 

He said, "Look on your king." 

They cried with fearful madness, "Away 
with Him, away with Him ! crucify Him, 
crucify Him!" 

For the last time, Pilate said, " Shall I 
crucify your king ?" 

They said, "We have no king but Caesar," 
There was not a man there who did not 
hate the very name of the Emperor, yet 
they cried out for him, because they hated 
the Saviour more. Pilate saw it was use- 
less to speak to them again, so he said to 
the soldiers, "Take Jesus away, and cru- 
cify Him." 



43. ©to* Mmj at tft£ ftttfft at Ittto 

Matt, xxvii., 3-10. 

JUDAS, who betrayed Christ, heard 
Pilate sentence Jesus to death ; he saw 
Him led away by the Roman soldiers to be 
crucified. 

He felt very miserable and unhappy, to 
think that he had told the Chief Priests 
where to find Jesus. Perhaps he thought 
that Jesus would be sure to get away from 
His enemies, as he knew that He could do 
anything ; but now, when he saw Him led 
away to death, he could bear it no longer. 

He went to the Chief Priests and Elders, 
and said, " I have brought back the thirty 
silver pieces; I cannot keep this money, 
for it is the price of the life of an inno- 
cent man." 

Pilate, the Judge, had said that Christ 
was innocent ; now the man who betrayed 
Him said the same. 

The Chief Priests ought to have sent 



THE DEATH OF JUDAS. 



197 



after Jesus at once to stop His death, and 
say that "a mistake had been made." 

But these wicked men, when they heard 
what Judas said, only replied, " It is noth- 
ing to us if He is innocent, we only care to 
have Him killed." 

Then Judas threw down the money on 
the floor ; he had gained it in such a wick- 
ed way that he dared not keep it. # 

The Chief Priests took up the money, 
and said, "We must not use it for God's 
temple-service, because it is the price given 
for a man's life ; we will buy some ground 
with it, to make a burying-place for stran- 
gers." So they bought a field with the 
money. 

Judas went away as soon as he had 
thrown down the money. He felt so full 
of misery, that he went and hung himself. 

I suppose he tied a rope round his neck, 
and then fastened the other end of the 
rope to a tree. 

Afterwards the rope broke, and Judas 
fell down and his body burst. 

Such was the sad end of a covetous man. 



198 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

The soul of Judas went to its own place, 
to that place in the unseen world, for which 
his life here would make him most fit. 



44. $fw Manj at <S>Mtf# (RvtuitiKitn. 

PART I. 

Luke xxiii. ; 26-38. 

AFTER Pilate had passed sentence on 
Jesus, the soldiers took off the clothes 
in which they had dressed Him up, and put 
His own on Him again. 

They led Him out of Jerusalem to a lit- 
tle hill close by, called Calvary. It was the 
place where evil-doers were put to death. 

They laid upon Jesus the cross to which 
they were going to nail Him, but after He 
had carried it a little way, He could bear 
it no longer. The cross was heavy, and 
He was weak and faint. 

You know that, the evening before, He 
had gone through that dreadful agony in 
the garden. Since then, His disciples had 



Christ's crucifixion. 199 

run away from Him, Peter had denied Him, 
the Jewish council had vexed Him with 
questions, Pilate and Herod had tried Him, 
their servants had mocked Him, and the 
soldiers had cut His back with their heavy 
scourges, and crowned His head with 
thorns. He had had no sleep all night 
long; no wonder that His strength was 
gone. 

The very soldiers now took pity on Him, 
when they saw how weary He was, and 
they made a man named Simon carry His 
cross for Him. 

As they walked along, a great many peo- 
ple went with them to see the crucifixion. 

Some of them were very sorry for Jesus ; 
there were women there who cried bitterly 
to see the kind Saviour thus cruelly used. 

In all His suffering, Jesus ever had an 
ear for the sorrow of others. As He 
heard their cries, He turned round and 
said most kindly, "Do not cry for Me; 
cry for yourselves and for your children." 
Jesus knew that very soon God would 
send a heavy woe to the Jewish nation, 
because of their sins, especially that sin 
of putting Him to death. 



200 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

At last they come to Calvary. Two 
thieves are there, to be crucified at the 
same time as Jesus — one on His right hand, 
and one on His left. 

The soldiers offer Jesus wine, mixed with 
something to take away His senses, so that 
He may not feel the pain of dying. Jesus 
is burning with feverish thirst, so He takes 
the offered wine, but He will not drink it 
when He finds what is mixed with it. He 
wishes to know all that happens while He 
is dying ; He will not shrink from any of 
the pain. 

The soldiers take off neraly all His 
clothes, and lift Him up to the cross. 
They tie Him to it at first, and they put 
nails into His tender hands and feet, and 
hammer them into the wood of the cross. 

The sight of all this agony does not 
move His enemies to pity ; but even now, 
when Pilate has granted their wish, they 
cannot leave off mocking Him. 

See ! the lips of Jesus move in prayer. 
What does He say ? " Father, punish my 
enemies for their cruelty and wickedness ?" 
No ! that is not what He says. The words 
are very wonderful — He prays, "Father, 



CHRIST S CRUCIFIXION. 



201 



forgive them ; they know not what they 
do." 

Oh, what a loving heart must Jesus have 
had thus at such a time to pray for these 
wicked men. 

Is not this returning good for evil ? 

The soldiers, meanwhile, divide His 
clothes among themselves; then they sit 
down and watch the cross, the multitude 
standing around. Pilate had written on a 
piece of parchment, which was nailed on 
the cross, the reason why Jesus was put to 
death ; namly, because He said Hejwas a 
king. He wrote in the three languages, 
Hebrew, the tongue of the Jews ; Greek, 
the tongue of the people who lived in 
Greece ; and Latin, the tongue of the 
Romans. This was done that every one 
might be able to read it in his own speech. 
The words Pilate wrote were these — 
" This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." 
The chief priests did not like this ; they 
said to Pilate, cc Write, not the King of the 
Jews, but that He said, ' I am the King of 
the Jews.'" But Pilate said, " I will not 
alter what I have written." 

The people who read this parchment as 



202 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

it there hangs nailed over the head of the 
Saviour, laugh at the would-be king. 
" Come down from the cross," they cry, 
"if you are a king. You who cured the 
blind, you who healed the sick, you who 
raised the dead, you who saved others, 
save yourself now ! Ah, you cannot ! If 
you are the Son of God, God will not 
leave you to die on the cross. Come 
down, and we will believe on you." 

Suppose Jesus had come down, suppose 
Jesus had saved Himself — why, then He 
could not have saved the world. He chose 
to die that sinners might live. 

" It was for crimes that we had done 
He groaned upon the tree." 






45. mt $\m% *f ®M%U teiftxiott, 

PART II. 

ON each side of Jesus is a cross ; a 
thief is nailed on each. One of 
them is grown so hardened in wicked ways 
that he mocks at the Holy One beside him. 



Christ's crucifixion. 203 

Yes, even in dying lie cannot leave off 
scoffing. 

But the other one is sorry. He reproves 
the mocker, and says, "You and I hang 
on this cross as a punishment for our evil 
doings ; we deserve to die, but Jesus has 
done nothing amiss." Then he turns to 
Jesus, and says, u Lord, remember me, 
when Thou comest into thy kingdom." 

The poor thief believed that Jesus was 
a heavenly king, though He was crucified 
like a sinner. 

Jesus attends at once to his prayer, and 
promises him bliss. He says, u To-day you 
shall be with me in heaven." 

At the foot of Christ's cross three women 
stand, watching with aching hearts the 
dying Saviour. 

One of them is Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

Things that she had treasured up in her 
heart ever since He was a baby she thinks 
of now. She thinks of the angel's words, 
"Hail, Mary, you are more blessed than 
any woman," when he came to tell her 
that God would send her a baby who 
would be the Son of God. 

She remembers how the shepherds came 






204 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

to Him when He lay in the manger, and 
how they had heard the angels sing His 
cradle-song. She thinks of the wise men 
who came a long, long journey to worship 
the Infant King. She thinks of His obe- 
dient, sinless boyhood, His constant love 
to her. She thinks of Him when He 
was grown up, how disease fled at His 
touch, how raging seas were calm at His 
word, how devils owned His power, how 
the grave gave up its dead at His com- 
mand. These thoughts pierced her heart 
like swords. There He hangs, dying a 
shameful death. Oh, why ? 

Mary understood the reason much better 
soon afterwards, but her mother's heart is 
nearly breaking now. 

The sight of her grief pains Jesus too. 
He sees close by Him John, His best loved 
disciple : so He says to His mother, "Behold 
your son ;" and to John : " Behold your 
mother." 

John knew what Jesus meant, and from 
that time he took Mary home with him, to 
live with him as his own mother. How full 
of love and thought for others was Jesus to 
the very last ! 



Christ's crucifixion. 205 

What is this strange darkness, coming on 
at mid-day, as if night were near ? Why 
does the sun hide his light, as if he would 
not shine upon such an awful deed as the 
crucifixion of the Son of God ? 

The darkness deepens as the end draws 
near; for three hours the whole land is 
covered with gloom. 

One loud cry of agony now bursts from 
the lips of the sufferer, " My God, my God ! 
why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" 

All the meaning of those awful words 
we cannot tell. Jesus felt that bitter sor- 
row, that we might never know it. 

Burning with thirst, the Saviour asks for 
a cooling drink. The soldiers offer Him 
some of their own wine. They fill a sponge 
with it and put it to His lips. Jesus drinks 
it, and speaks for the last time. The words 
are no words of sorrow now, but of tri- 
umph. "It is finished." Yes! the work 
He came down from Heaven to do is all 
done now. 

He bows His head, He dies !• 

Now the earth quakes, the rocks are rent, 
the veil in the Jewish temple, before the 



18 



206 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Holy of Holies, is rent asunder ; — old things 
are passed away. 

It was noon when Jesus was nailed to the 
cross — it was three o'clock in the afternoon 
when He died — the very hour when the 
Jews began to kill the Passover lamb. 
" Behold the Lamb of God!" 



46. mt Mm oi <B>M»t f * itttfai 

Matt, xxvii., 57-66. Mark xv., 42-47. John 
xix., 31-42. 

IT was about three o'clock on Friday 
afternoon when Jesus died. The Jew- 
ish Sabbath began at sunset that evening. 

The Jews said, " It is against our law to 
have any one hanging, either dead or dying, 
'on the cross, on a Sabbath-day ; we must 
bury the bodies of Jesus and of the thieves 
before night." 

They went to Pilate, and said, " Will you 
bid your soldiers break the legs of those 






Christ's burial. 207 

evil-doers so as to kill them quite, that we 
may be able to bury them before our Sab- 
bath begins." 

Then Pilate told his soldiers to do as the 
people wished. They went to one thief; 
he was not dead, so they broke his legs, 
and that killed him ; then they went to the 
other thief, and broke his legs, so that he 
died. They then went to Jesus, but He 
was dead already, so they did not break 
His legs. 

Then came true the old prophecy,* " A 
bone of Him shall not be broken." The 
Jews never broke a bone of their Passover- 
lamb, which, as I have before told you, was 
a type of Christ. This lamb was a whole 
sacrifice offered up to God. 

But though they did not break the Sav- 
iour's legs, yet a soldier, to make quite sure 
that He was dead, pierced His side, and 
there came out of the hole made by the 
spear blood and water. 

You remember how the evening before, 
when Jesus sat at supper with His disciples, 
that He poured out some wine and said, 

* Ex. xii. 46; Psalm xxxiv. 20. 



208 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

a Drink this, to remind you of my blood 
which will be shed for your sins." 

The blood is shed now. 

The bodies of the thieves were taken 
down from their crosses, and buried in a 
place set apart for evil-doers. Bat the body 
of Jesus was not buried there. When He 
was alive, He gave His life for the sin of 
the world; when He died, He died as a 
sinner, for sinners. His sacrifice is offered, 
God has accepted it now. He will no more 
be treated as an evil-doer. 

Seven hundred years ago the prophet 
Isaiah said,* that " when the Saviour came, 
He would be put to death with evil-doers, 
and be counted one of them, but that His 
grave would be that of a rich man's." How 
this old prophecy came true I will tell you. 

In the Jewish council there were one or 
two good men who loved Jesus, and would 
not consent to what the others did, when 
they wished to put Him to death. One of 
these was named Joseph of Arimathea, and 
another Nicodemus, who once came to talk 
to Jesus by night. 

Joseph was very rich, as well as good and 

* Isaiah liiL 8, 9. 



Christ's burial. 209 

just. He went to Pilate and said, "Will 
you give me the body of Jesus, so that I 
may bury it ?" 

Pilate said, " I should not think that He 
is dead yet, for people do not generally die 
so quickly as that, when they are crucified, 
but I will call the captain* of the soldiers 
and ask him." 

Then Pilate asked, " Is it true that Jesus 
of Nazareth is dead ?" 

" Yes, He is quite dead," the captain re- 
plied. 

"Then you may have the body," said 
Pilate, to Joseph. 

So Joseph and his servants took down 
the body of Jesus from the cross, very 
carefully. They washed off all the blood- 
stains from His brow, His side, His hands, 
and His feet. Then Nicodemus came, with 
a large quantity of costly spices, which 
smelt very sweetly, to cover over the body 
of Jesus so as to prevent its turning bad. 
Then they wrapped it round with clean, 
fine linen clothes, and carried it to Joseph's 
tomb. 

This tomb was in a garden. It was quite 

* Or centurion, that is, captain over 100 soldiers. 
18* 



210 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

new ; no one had been buried in it before. 
It was cut out of a rock. When they had 
laid the body of Jesus in the tomb, they 
rolled a very large stone to the opening, so 
that no one could get in. 

Some women, who were friends of Je- 
sus, had watched Him when He hung upon 
the cross; now they watched where His 
body was laid. They said to one another, 
" As soon as the Sabbath is over, we will 
come to the grave, and rub the body of Je- 
sus with sweet ointment." Then they went 
home, to get the things ready to make it. 

The enemies of Jesus did not like that 
He should be buried in such a sweet, quiet 
place, all by Himself They went to Pilate 
early the next morning, and said "Sir that 
deceiver, Jesus, said when He was alive, 
' After three days I shall live again.' Will 
you let us have some soldiers to guard the 
tomb for three days, for perhaps His dis- 
ciples will come by night and steal away 
the body, and then say, c He has risen from 
the dead.' That deceit will be the worst 
of all." 

Pilate said, " You may have a guard of 
soldiers, so as to make all as safe as you can." 



Christ's burial. 211 

So they went away, and set some Roman 
soldiers to watch the grave. They put the 
seal of the Roman Governor on the stone 
at the mouth of the grave. No one could 
now move it away, without breaking the 
seal. 

If the disciples had come to the guard 
and said, " Let us have the body of Jesus," 
they would have replied, u No, you will 
break the seal if you move the stone, and 
the governor would know it, and we should 
be punished.," 

On Friday evening Jesus was laid in the 
quiet grave ; all Saturday, the Jewish Sab- 
bath, He lay there. The place was guar- 
ded well, by seal, by stone, by soldiers ; 
and bright angels watched within the tomb 
at the Saviour's head and feet. 

As they looked at that pale and silent 
face, they could see in it no sign of pain. 
All suffering from men, and for men, was 
past forever. The scourged back, the 
wounded brow, the torn hands and feet, 
the pierced side, do not hurt Him now. 

He rests from this labor of redeeming 
men, as God rested from creating on the 
first Sabbath-day, thousands of years ago. 









47. » $tax$ at CMrt'* ^mmstitn. 

Matt, xxviii., 1-15. Luke xxiv., 1-12. John 
xx. ; 1-18. 

THE Sabbath, that Jesus lay in the 
grave was no rest-day for the broken- 
hearted disciples. They were filled with 
grief to think that their dear Master was 
dead. They had lived with Him long, and 
loved Him much. They could hardly be- 
lieve that One whom they had seen work 
such wonders, and even make dead men 
live, should at last have to die Himself. 
All their hopes are gone now that the Mas- 
ter is dead. There is no one to teach 
them now. 

Soon, however, their sorrow will be 
turned into joy. The dark night is pass- 
ing away, and before the dawn of the 
morning of the first day of the week, Jesus 
will have left His grave. 

Jesus lay in the tomb from Friday eve- 
ning until Sunday morning. Just before 



Christ's resurrection. 213 

the break of day, there was a great earth- 
quake. An angel of God came down from 
heaven to the tomb of the Saviour. He 
broke the seal, he rolled away the stone 
from the opening of the grave and sat upon 
it. His face was bright as the lightning, 
his robes were pure and white like snow. 
The soldiers dared not look at him, they 
shook with fright : they could no more 
move to hinder the angel than if they were 
all dead men. 

Jesus left the tomb — He was alive again 
— even as He said He should be. 

His enemies could not keep Him in the 
grave, when He chose to take His life again. 
In vain had they sent a guard of brave 
soldiers to watch the tomb; they were 
weak as dead men. In vain had they seal- 
ed the great stone that lay before the grave ; 
they could not hinder God's angel from 
rolling it away. 

The soldiers went to the Chief Priests, 
and told them what had happened. They 
told the Jewish elders, and all of them said, 
u Do not tell anyone what you have told us ; 
here is a large sum of money for you to 
keep quiet and hush up the story. If any- 



214 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

one should ask questions, say the disciples 
came in the night, and stole away the body 
when we were asleep." The soldiers did 
as they were bid; they took the money 
and told the lie. 

As soon as ever the sun rose, the women, 
who had been getting ready the sweet oint- 
ment to rub the body of Jesus, came with 
it to the grave. 

As they walked along they said, " Who 
shall we get to move away the great stone 
that is rolled before the grave ?" 

They did not know that the ,enemies of 
Jesus had sent some soldiers to hinder any- 
one from moving away the stone. The 
soldiers, however, were gone away now as 
I told you before. 

At last the women came to the grave, 
but the great stone was rolled away ! 

Then they went into the grave, but they 
did not see the body of Jesus. " Some- 
body has stolen Him away," they exclaim- 
ed, with anxiety. 

Then Mary Magdala, who was one of 
the women, ran away from the grave to tell 
Peter and John. She said to them, 
" They have taken away the Lord out of 




Christ's resurrection. 215 

the grave, and we know not where they 
have laid Him." 

While Mary was gone, the other women 
stood wondering at the empty grave. 

As they stood there two bright angels, 
in shining robes, came to their side. 

The women, afraid, bowed down before 
them. 

One of the angels said, "Do not fear; 
I know you are looking for Jesus, who was 
crucified. He is not here, He is risen, as 
He said. Come, see the place where the 
Lord lay. Do you not remember, when He 
was teaching you in Galilee, how He said, 
that He must be given up into the hands of 
wicked men, who would crucify Him, but 
that the third day He should rise again ? " 

Then, when the angels reminded them, 
the women remembered these words of 
Jesus. 

"Now, go quickly," said the angels, 
" and tell the disciples that the Lord has 
risen." 

Then the women, with fear and joy, 
went as fast as they could from the grave, 
to tell the disciples what they had seen 
and heard. 



216 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

As they went along they met Jesus Him- 
self. He spoke to them first, and then they 
worshipped Him. They knelt at His feet 
and held Him fast, in their joy at once 
more seeing their Lord. 

Jesus said, "Go, tell my brethren that 
they shall see Me soon, for I am risen from 
the dead." 

They then found the disciples, and told 
them the good news that Christ was risen. 
The news seemed to the disciples too good 
to be true. They said, " It is like an idle 
tale ; we cannot believe you, you must be 
mistaken." 

Now, while the women had gone to tell 
the rest of the disciples, Peter and John, 
who, I suppose, lived together in another 
part of Jerusalem from where the rest 
lodged, went with Mary of Magdala to see 
the grave. 

John ran the fastest, and he reached the 
grave first. He did not go into the grave ; 
he only looked in, and saw nothing but the 
linen clothes. Then Peter came up, and 
he went right into the grave. He saw no 
body, only the clothes neatly folded up. 
Then John went into the grave too; he 



Christ's resurrection. 217 

thought, if anyone had taken away the 
dead body, they would have carried it 
away in the grave-clothes ; but here they 
were, not lying on the ground as if they 
had fallen off, but neatly folded as if they 
had been taken off. He thought of what 
Jesus had said about His rising again, and 
he began to believe it was true. 

Peter and John now went back to their 
own home, but Mary stayed by the empty 
grave, weeping. As she wept, she stooped 
down to look again into the tomb, and she 
saw two angels, one sitting at the head, the 
other at the feet, where the body of Jesus 
had lain. 

They kindly asked her, "Woman, why 
do you weep ?" 

She answered, " They have taken away 
my Lord, and I do not know where they 
have laid Him." 

He, who always comforted the mourner, 
was near her now, but she knew it not. 

She turned round, when a man said to 
her, " Woman, why do you weep ? What 
are you looking for ?" 

She thought he was the gardener, and 
said, " Sir, if you have taken Him out of 

19 



218 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

the tomb, tell me where you have laid 
Him, and I will take Him away." 

The man said, "Mary!" That one word 
was enough : she knew that tone so well. 
She turned to Him, and said, "Master!" 
Now her sorrow was turned into joy. 

He said, " You must not think that you 
can keep Me on earth, for I shall soon go 
to heaven, to be with My Father and your 
Father, with My God and your God. Go 
and tell My brethren this." 

Jesus had before told the other women 
to say to the disciples, that He had risen 
from the dead ; and, lest they should think 
that He had returned to stay with them on 
earth always, He told Mary to say that He 
should soon leave them on earth to go up 
into heaven. 

Mary then went to the disciples with the 
message of Jesus, but they said, u We can- 
not think what you say is true ; you must 
be mistaken." 






48. Wxt Jftwjf *f tft* Walk to $tMMM& 

Luke xxiv., 13-49. 

ON the afternoon of the day that Jesus 
left the grave, there were two men 
walking to the village of Emmaus, which 
was a short distance from Jerusalem. These 
men were the disciples of Jesus, but were 
not of the number of the twelve apostles. 

As they walked along, they talked of all 
the strange things that had happened in Je- 
rusalem, during the last few days. 

While they were talking, a stranger 
came up to them and said, " May I know 
what it is that you are talking about so 
earnestly ; you seem to be very sad ?" 

They said, " We are talking about Jesus. 
Surely, if you are only a stranger here, and 
have lodged in Jerusalem but one night, 
you must have heard something of Him, 
for every one is talking about Him." 

"Tell me^something about Him," said 
the strange man. 



220 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

Then one of them began: " Jesus of 
Nazareth was a wonderful prophet, and 
worked many miracles. No one ever spoke 
as He did, and His teachings were not like 
those of the Scribes and Pharisees. Many 
people believed in Him, but the Chief 
Priests and our Rulers hated Him. They 
condemned Him to death, and last Friday 
He was crucified. 

"We are very sad at this, becaue we 
hoped that He was the promised Saviour, 
but now we are afraid that He is not. 

" It is three days ago since He was put 
to death. Some women whom we know 
went to His grave this morning, and said, 
that they could not find His body. They 
told us, too, that 4 they had seen two angels, 
who said that He was alive!' Peter and 
John, two of His disciples, went to the 
grave, too, and they found the grave empty 
as the woman had said, but they did not 
see Jesus. All these things puzzle us very 
much; we do not know what to believe." 

The stranger said, " Think over what 
your old prophets have written, hundreds 
of years ago, about Christ. Did they tell 
you that He would come as a great king ? 



THE WALK TO EMMAUS. 221 

No, they said, c He would be meek and 
lowly, that men would not own Him, but 
would think meanly of Him.' They said, 
1 He would be a man of sorrows, and know 
well what it was to grieve/ " 

" They told you, too, that c Christ must 
suffer and die,' for He came to be the Sav- 
iour, not of the Jews alone, but of all the 
world. He was to save it by dying for it. 

u Do you not remember that it is written, 
'He was wounded for our sins, He was 
bruised for our iniquities ; by His stripes 
we are healed, and the Lord hath laid on 
Him the punishment of us all/ ' 

Many other things did the stranger say. 
He told them what Moses had written of 
Christ, fourteen hundred years ago ; what 
David had said in the Psalms of Him, and 
how the prophets had told, long before- 
hand, of those things which had just hap- 
pened at Jerusalem. 

u See how true all this is of Jesus of 
Nazareth, and still believe in Him as the 
promised Christ. Do not be cast down be- 
cause He was crucified, for it was necessary 
that He should suffer all these things, to 



222 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

save the world, before He entered into 
glory." 

The two friends listened very earnestly 
to the stranger, and they began to under- 
stand the old sacred writings in a new 
way. 

The road to Emmaus did not seem long 
to them, they were so interested in His 
talk. At last they reached the village, and 
the stranger seemed as if He were going 
farther on. 

11 Oh, do not leave us," they said ; " stay 
with us, for the day is nearly gone." 

They wanted to hear more of His gra- 
cious words, for they brought hope and 
comfort to their sorrowing hearts. 

When they sat down to take some food, 
the stranger took up a piece of bread. He 
asked a blessing, and then gave the bread 
to the two men. All at once, by this well- 
remembered act, they knew the Lord. He 
was a stranger to them no longer, for often 
had He before thus given them food. " It 
is the Lord," they cried. 

They looked to where He sat, but the 
seat was empty, the Lord was gone from 
their sight ! 






THE WALK TO EMMAUS. 223 

They said to one another, u Did not His 
words make our hearts very warm and glad, 
while He explained the Scriptures to us as 
we walked along the road ? It is true that 
the Lord has risen from the dead." 

This news was too good to keep to them- 
selves ; they longed to make others as glad 
as Jesus had made them. 

Though the day was nearly gone, they 
went back to Jerusalem that very hour, to 
tell the disciples that they had seen the 
Lord. They found them in a room, with 
the door locked, lest their enemies should 
come in and interrupt them. All the eleven 
were there, except Thomas. As soon as 
they had let the two friends into the room, 
they said to them, " Jesus has risen from 
the dead ; some women have seen Him, and 
so has Peter." (How kind of Jesus to go 
to Peter before He went to any of the other 
apostles! Perhaps He said, " I forgive you, 
Peter, for denying Me.") 

Then the two friends said, " We have 
seen Jesus too ;" and they told them how 
sweetly He had talked to them ; but that 
they thought He was a stranger, until He 
gave them the bread. 



224 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

While they were talking together, Jesus 
stood before them, and said, " Peace be 
unto you." They were all very much 
frightened, for how could He get into the 
room — the door was locked ? They thought 
it was the spirit, not the body, of Jesus 
that they saw. Jesus had pity on their 
fears ; so to quiet them, He said, " Come 
and touch me, look at my hands and my 
feet, for it is I Myself. You cannot see a 
spirit, as you can see Me!" Then the dis- 
ciples looked at His hands and His feet, 
and saw the mark where the nails had been. 
Still they could hardly believe, for joy and 
wonder. 

Then Jesus said, "Have you anything 
here that you can give me to eat ?" 

They gave Him some broiled fish and 
some honeycomb, and Jesus ate them. 

So they believed that it was indeed the 
body of Jesus that was raised from the 
dead, and not His spirit, that they saw. 
Then Jesus told them why He had died, 
and He said that, when He was gone back 
to heaven, they must go and teach every- 
body what He had taught them. 



49. in* m*w ** <&Mm ffoit* ttf &t* 

John xx. ; 24-29 ; xxi., 1-19. 

BEFORE Jesus went back to His Father 
in Heaven, He showed Himself sev- 
eral times to His disciples. 

He did this for one reason, that they 
might be quite sure that His body was 
alive again, not to die any more. We now 
know that, as Christ has risen from the dead, 
so our bodies will one day rise from the 
grave too. 

I told you that Jesus showed Himself 
to the apostles on the evening of the very 
day that He rose from the dead. All were 
in the room, excepting Thomas. The dis- 
ciples told Thomas afterwards that they 
had seen the Lord. 

Thomas said, " No, jow. must have fancied 
that you saw Him. Until I put my finger 
into the holes made by the nails in His 
hands, and until I can put my hand into 



226 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

the spear-hole in His side, I will not believe 
that He is risen from the dead." 

This was very wrong of Thomas. He 
should have believed the words of his fel- 
low disciples; and, above all, he should 
have remembered what Jesus Himself had 
said, before He died, about His rising 
again. 

Just a week after the Saviour had met 
the disciples, they were all together again 
in a room, with the door locked. Thomas 
was there too. Soon they saw Jesus stand- 
ing among them, and He said, u Peace be 
with you." 

Then He called Thomas to come to Him. 

Thomas came close to Jesus. 

Jesus said to him, u Look at my hands; 
do you see the marks of the nails? Put 
your finger in them. Now look at my side, 
and see the hole made by the spear. Put 
your hand in it." 

Thomas was very much ashamed of him- 
self for having said what he did. He knew 
that Jesus must have heard him say it, and 
that Jesus must be the Son of God, so as to 
be able to see and hear everything. He 
was quite sure now that Jesus was alive 






Christ's visits to his disciples. 227 

again, and he cried out, " My Lord and 
my God!" 

Jesus said to him, " You believe, because 
you have seen Me ; but blessed are those 
who believe, even though they do not see." 

We cannot see Jesus with the eyes of 
our body ; but we can believe that He is 
God's Son and our Saviour, though we 
cannot see. This is faith in Jesus. 

Jesus told His disciples to leave Jeru- 
salem, and go into Galilee ; for He would 
meet them there. 

Then they went back to their old homes 
by the sea of Galilee, and began to catch 
fish as they used to do. 

One night Peter said, " I am going out 
fishing ;" six other disciples said, " We 
will go with you." So they all got into a 
boat, and went out to sea. 

All night they threw their nets into the 
still water, but they did not catch a single 
fish. 

When the morning came, they saw some 
one standing on the shore, but they could 
not tell who it was. 

He called to them, " Children, have you 
anything to eat?" "Nq," they answered. 



228 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

The man said to them, " Put down your 
net on the right side of tffe ship, you will 
find some fish there." 

They did so, and now the net was so 
full they could hardly drag it along. 

John then said to the other disciples, "It 
is the Lord!" 

Peter could not wait till the boat came 
to land, but he jumped into the water, and 
swam to Jesus. 

Jesus knew that they were tired and 
hungry with working all night, so with 
thoughtful love He had some food ready 
for them. They saw, when they came to 
land, a coal fire, some fish ready cooked, 
and some bread. 

Jesus said, " Bring here the fish that you 
have caught." Then Peter went to the 
boat, and drew the net out of it. How 
many fishes do you think there were in it ? 
A hundred and fifty three ; but for all that 
there were so many, the net did not break. 

"Now," said Jesus, "Come and take 
some food." He gave them all some bread 
and fish, and helped them just as He used 
to do. 

When they had finished eating, Jesus 



CHRIST S VISITS TO HIS DISCIPLES. 229 

said to Peter, a Do you love Me, Peter, 
more than the rest of my disciples?" 

He said, "Yes, Lord, you know that I 
love you dearly." Peter was humble now ; 
he did not say now that he loved Jesus 
more than the others. 

Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." 

Again Jesus asked, " Peter, do you love 
Me?" 

Again Peter answered, u Yes, Lord, you 
know that I love You dearly." 

Jesus said to him, " Feed my sheep." 

For the third time, Jesus said to Peter, 
"Do you love Me dearly?" 

Peter was very grieved that Jesus should 
ask him three times if he loved Him; it 
seemed as if He did not believe him. So 
he said, very sorrowfully, " Lord, You know 
all things, You know that I love You." 

Jesus said, " Feed my sheep." 

What did Jesus mean by telling Peter 
to feed His lambs and sheep ? He meant 
that Peter was to show his love by his ac- 
tions, and that he was to teach grown-up 
people and children about him, and tell 
them His great love in dying for them. 

Can you think why Jesus asked Peter 

20 



230 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

three times over if lie loved Him ? How 
many times did Peter say that he did not 
know Jesus? Three times? Yes. So 
Jesus wanted to hear Peter say that he 
loved Him, for every time that he had said 
he did not know Him. 

How sorry Peter must have felt, how 
ashamed and humbled ! The love of Jesus 
in forgiving him had melted away his proud 
and boastful spirit. 

Then Jesus told Peter, that he knew that 
he loved Him, and one day he should in- 
deed lay down his life for his Master's sake. 

He said, " Some wicked men will crucify 
you, because of your love to Me. You 
will never again be afraid to tell people 
that you know and love Me." And Peter 
never was. 

After this, Peter was one of the first to 
speak everywhere the truth about Jesus. 
Christ crucified for man's sin, Christ risen 
and seated at God's right hand in Heaven, 
was the good news he preached without 
fear, even to the enemies of Jesus. 

Jesus said to the apostles, " I want you, 
and all people who love Me, to come and 
meet Me on a mountain in Galilee. I will 



Christ's visits to his disciples. 231 



tell you when. So they all met together 
at the time Jesus had told them to do so. 
There were more than five hundred of 
them. Jesus came to these disciples and 
said, " You will soon s5e Me no more, but 
I shall always be near you, to help and 
comfort you. 

"Go everywhere, and teach every one 
the things that I have taught you. First 
of all, go to the people of Jerusalem. Tell 
them that I forgive them for putting Me to 
death: that I died to save them." 

When Jesus had talked some time with 
them, He left them. He did not live with 
His disciples as He used to do before He 
died ; He only came to them sometimes. 



50. mt $tmj of dUftrtuf a ^mntitn. 

Luke xxiv. ; 50-53. Acts i., 9-12. 

THE apostles had now gone back to 
Jerusalem, and they saw Jesus there. 

It was forty days since He rose from the 
dead, when He led them out as far as 
Bethany, which was a village on the eastern 
slope of the Mount of Olives. 

Jesus gave His parting words to His dis- 
ciples, and put His hands on them and 
blessed them. As He did so, a cloud came 
between Him and them, and in that cloud 
Jesus was carried up into Heaven. So they 
saw Him no more. 

They could not help looking up into the 
sky long after He was gone from their sight. 

As they gazed, two angels stood by their 
side, and said, " Why do you stand looking 
up into Heaven ? Jesus is gone away from 
you now, but one day He will come back 
again." 

Then the disciples returned to Jerusalem. 



Christ's ascension. 233 

They were not sad now, as they had 
been when He died. No : they knew now 
why He had died ; they knew that He had 
risen from the dead ; they knew that He 
had gone back to His Father and their 
Father, and that He was gone to get a home 
ready for them in Heaven, so that they 
might live with Him there always. 

What did the angels mean by saying that 
Jesus would come again from Heaven in a 
cloud? 

They meant that one day He will come 
from Heaven to judge the world. Every 
one will see Him then. At His voice every 
grave will open, &nd every dead body will 
live again. 

Then He will put the good on His right 
hand) and the mckelf on His left hand. 

Then, as a judge, the Saviour will pass 
sentence on all before Him. Every one 
will feel that the Judge is just and very 
kind, and all He says of each one is quite 
true and fair. Even the wicked will feel 
this. 

He will say to the good, " Come, ye bless- 
ed, enter into the rest prepared for you." 
So will they ever be with the Lord. They 



234 NEW TESTAMENT STORIES. 

will go to a place where no sorrow, no death 
can ever come ; because, in that holy place, 
there will be no sin. They will be quite 
good like Jesus, and see Him as He is. 

To the wicked the Judge will say, " Go 
away from me into outer darkness, along 
with Satan and the wicked angels." 

Away from God! how sad and dark it 
must be ! Away from all good angels and 
good men — how wretched ! To have only 
wicked men and devils for company — how 
awful ! 

This sad end need not be yours. Now 
you may choose between the path that 
leads to life, and the path that leads to 
death. 

Remember, that He who will be the 
Judge, is now the Saviour of the world. 
Will you not ask Him to forgive your sins, 
and help you to grow like Him now, so 
that after death you may live with Him for- 
ever? 



THE END. 






JBooks Published by Sheldon & Co. 
ABBOTT'S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

A Series of American Histories for Youth, by Jacob Abbott. 

To be completed in Twelve "Volumes, 18mo, price T5 cents each. 
Each volume complete in itself. 

Each volume will be illustrated with numerous Maps and En- 
gravings, from original designs, by F. 0. 0. Darley, J. R. Chapin, 
G. Perkins, Charles Parsons, H. W. Herrick, E. F. Beaulieu, 
H. L. Stephens, and others. 

This Series, by the well-known author of the " Rollo 
Books," "Hollo's Tour in Europe," "Harper's Series op 
European Histories," "The Florence Stories," &c, will 
consist of the following volumes : 

1. Aboriginal America. (Now ready.) 

2. Discovery op America. (Now ready.) 

3. Southern Colonies. (Now ready.) 

4. The Northern Colonies. (Ready in August.) 

5. Wars op the Colonies. (Now ready.) 

6. Revolt of the Colonies. 
1. Boston in Seventy-Five. 

8. New York in Seventy-Six. 

9. The Carolinas in Seventy-Nine. 

10. Campaign in the Jerseys. 

11. burgoyne and cornwallis. 

12. The Federal Constitution. 

NOTICES OF THE INITIAL VOLUME. 

From the Boston Traveller. 
"The most excellent publication of the kind ever undertaken," 

From the Boston Advertiser. 
" The illustrations are well designed and executed." 

From the Boston Post. 
" One of the most useful of the many good and popular books of which 
Mr. Abbott is the author." 

From the Philadelphia North American. 
*' It is indeed a very vivid and comprehensive presentation of the physi- 
cal aspect and aboriginal life visible on this continent, before the discorwy 
fcy white men." 

From the Troy Whig. 
" Mr. Abbott's stories have for years been the delight of thousands." 



Boohs Published by Sheldon & Co. 



THE ROLLO STORY BOOKS, 

By Jacob Abbott. 



Trouble on the Mountain, 

Causey Building, 

Apple Gathering, 

The Two Wheelbarrows, 

Blueberrying, 

The Freshet, 



GTeorgie, 

Hollo in the Woods, 
Rollers Garden, 
The Steeple Trap, 
Labor Lost, 
-Lucy's Visit 



12 vols. 18mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price, per set, >$3. 



THE FLORENCE STORIES. 

By Jacob Abbott. 

VoL 1. — Florence and John. 18mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 
Yol. 2. — Grimkie. 18mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 
Yol. 3. — The Orkney Islands, 18mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 
Vol. 4.— The Enghlish Channel. 18mo. Cloth Illustrated. 
Vol. 5.— -The Isle of : wight, 18mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 
Price of each volume TO cents. 

From the Boston Journal. 

" Mr. Abbott is always an entertaining writer for the young, and this 
•tory seems to us to contain more that is really suggestive and instructive 
than other of his recent productions. Florence and John are children who 
pursue their studies at home, under the care of their mother, and in the 
progress of the tale many useful hints are given in regard to home in- 
struction. The main educational idea which runs through all Mr. 
Abbott's works, that of developing the capacities of children so as to 
make them self-reliant, is conspicuous in this." 

From the New York Observer. 

"Mr. Abbott is known to be a pure, successful and useful writer for the 
young and old. He is also the most popular author of juvenile books 
now living." 

From the Boston Traveller. 

41 No writer of children's books, not even the renowned Peter Parley* 
has ever been so successful as Abbott." 



Boohs Published by Sheldon & Co. 

■ " " " » 

THE OAKLAND STORIES. 

By George B. Taylor. 

YoL 1. — ELenny. 18mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 
Vol. 2. — Cousin Guy. 18mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 
Vol. 3. — Claiborne. 18mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 
Vol 4. — Gustave. (In press.) 

Price of each volume 60 cents. 

From the Troy Whig, 

"The writer, although by no means an imitator of Jacob Abbott, 6ho*rs 
a good deal of talent in the same field. 11 

From the Boston Journal, 

•'While in general this story resembles Mr. Abbott's, it is superior to 
some of that author's later works. It is marked by his best character- 
istics — the easy, natural dialogue, wholesome, moral and religious tone, 
and simple explanatory style, without being tiresome in repetition. It 
describes home scenes and suggests home amusements." 



THE ROLLO BOOKS. 
By Jacob Abbott. 



Hollo Learning to Talk, 
Hollo Learning to Read, 
Rollo at Work, 
Rollo at Play, 
Rollo at School, 
Rollo's Vacation, 
Hollo's Experiments, 



Rollo's Museum, 
Rollo's Travels, 
Rollo's Correspondence, 
Rollo's Philosophy, Water, 
Rollo's Philosophy, Air, 
Rollo's Philosophy, Eire, 
Rollo's Philosophy, Sky. 



14 vols. Illustrated, uniform style. 16mo. Cloth, each 55 cent* 
Xi vols., uniform style. 18mo., cheap edition " each 45 cent* 



Books Published by Sheldon <& Co. 



THE BRIGHTHOPE SERIES. 

By J. T. Trowbridge. 

The Old Battle Ground, Iron Thorpe, 

Father Brighthope, Burr Cliff. 

Hearts and Faces. 

5 vols. 18mo, in cloth, gilt back, uniform. Frio© $2 60. 

From the Boston Transcript. 

44 Mr. Trowbridge has never written anything that was not popular, andl 
each new work has added to his fame. He has a wonderful faculty as 
a portrayer of New England characteristics, and New England scenes." 
From the Salem Register. 

44 Mr. Trowbridge will find many welcomers to the field of authorship 
as often as he chooses to enter it, and to leave as pleasant a record behind 
him as the story of 44 Father Brighthope." The " Old Battle Ground" ia 
worthy of his reputation as one of the very best portrayers of New Eng- 
land character and describers of New England scenes." 



THE GELDART SERIES. 

By Mrs. Thomas Geldart. 

6 vols. 16mo. Illustrated by John Gilbert. 

Frice of each 50 cents. 



Sunday Evening Thoughts, 
Emilie the Peacemaker. 
Stories of Scotland. 



Daily Thoughts for a Child, 
Truth is Everything, 
Sunday Morning Thoughts, 

From the Boston Register. 

44 These charming volumes are the much admired Geldart Series of 
books for the young, which have established a very enviable reputation 
in England for their wholesome moral tendency. They are beautifully 
printed 16mo volumes, with gilt backs, and are sold at 50 cents each. 
There are five volumes in the series, and they will form a very choice ad- 
dition to a youth's library." 

From the Worcester Palladium. 

44 What children read they often long retain; therefore it is desirable 
that their books should be of a high moral tone. In this respect Mrs. 
Geldart haa few equals as an author, and we hope that her works will be 
foand in every child's library." 



Boohs Published by Sheldon & Co. 



-^ 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

By Mrs. Thomas Geldart, 

Author of " Daily Thoughts for a Child," " Stories of Scotland," Ac. 

With Twenty Illustrations, by J. R. Chapin, and others. 

1 vol., 16mo. Price "75 cents. 

From the Detroit Advertiser, 
* 4 The work has been executed with rare taste and judgment, and con- 
tains all the most important events in the history of England, and all that 
it is really important for ordinary readers to know." 

From the Philadelphia North American. 
" Much of the information is quite curious, and drawn from recondite 
sources." 

From the Baltimore Patriot. 
"Precisely suited to the rising generation." 

From the Boston Journal. 

" This work exactly realizes our idea of what a juvenile history should 
be. It is simple and direct, without degrading the dignity of history ; in- 
teresting, without converting it into a romance, and above all draws such 
pictures of dress and manners in the olden time, that instead of a list of 
hard names, living characters, eating, drinking, and sleeping like our- 
selves, walk before the mind's eye of the youthful readers. This work 
does for juveniles what Charles Knight's Popular History is doing for 
mature readers." 

From the Philadelphia City Item. 

11 We have read the volume, and have pleasure in commending it to 
public pei usal. It is a work for old or young, and it is so full of interest 
that no one will lay it down until its details have been mastered." 

From the Church Journal. 
" A very pleasant, easy, readable book is Mrs. Geldart's Popular His- 
tory of England. She has had long practice in writing for children, and 
it is such practice as makes perfect." 

From the Philadelphia Christian Instructor. 
" We know of no History of England so well adapted to prove an at- 
tractive and instructive reading-book for young persons as the one before 
us. The style is very simple, but, at the same time, chaste and elevated ; 
and, what is very important, the book abounds with practical lessons for 
the young. Although specially designed for this class, it may be read with 
interest and profit by all persons." 

From the New York News. 
" British, Danish, and Saxon England, from the conquest of Caesar to 
that of William the Norman, is described in this book with a picturesque- 
ness and vigor which make it most fascinating. Designed for the young 
it has charms for readers of every class and age. The engravings are ex- 
cellent, and give many drawings of arms, utensils, and implements of the 
ancient inhabitants of England. It is rather a picture than a history, 
^though historical characters are introduced to give life and interest t* 
*3i description." 



Boohs Published by Sheldon <b Co. 
SCRIPTURE STORIES. 

A New Series of " Stories from the Scriptures, ;J printed on 
linen cloth ; the Illustrations in Oil Colors, after new designs by 
A. Lumley and others. 

The Series will consist of Twelve Books, each one interesting 
and instructive. The following are now ready ; 

The Story of Samson 
The Story op Ruth. 
The Story of David. 



Small quarto. Price of each 25 cents. 

From the New York Evangelist. , 

"The Indestructible Picture Book," is well employed in "being made in- 
strumental, as in this instance, in rendering Scripture narrative attractive 
to children. The linen cloth fits it to wear and endure — an important 
requisite for anything submitted to the manipulation of young fingerai 
The colored cuts are an attractive feature of the book." 
From the Boston Journal. 

" This remarkably pretty juvenile contains the story of 4 Samson/ printed 
on cloth, with colored illustrations. These indestructible books are in great 
favor in the nursery, for which use they are admirably adapted." 



THE INDESTRUCTIBLE PLEASURE- 
BOOKS 

For Children ; printed in Oil Colors, on linen cloth expressly 
manufactured for this purpose. 

Consisting *i — 

Bedding of Cock Robin. 

The House that Jack Built. 

Jld Mother Hubbard. 

Little Bo-Peep. 

Life and Death op Jenny "Wren. 

The Old "Woman and Her Pig. 

The Little Man and Little Matd. 

The Illuminated Reader. 

The Scripture Primer. 

Small quarto, juice 25 cents each. 






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